Anti Gravity
by NecroticHate
Summary: When twelve years old Wendy Corduroy comes to work at the Mystery Shack together with her friend Soos Ramirez, she expects her summer to be nothing but boring. However, the chain of events she is caught in brings welcome, if somewhat weird, changes to her life.
1. Intro

Another morning - another random piece of furniture broken by Manly Dan. Wendy opened her eyes to the sound of cracking lumber somewhere inside the cabin, which was soon followed by a loud yell of her father. She glanced at the watch on her night stand. Fifteen minutes before the alarm. The girl sighed and crawled out of her bed. Sure thing her father was an early bird. And a very large one.

"Oh, hi, girlie," - Manly Dan yelled quietly. - "Sorry for waking you up, I didn't mean to. It's just that the wardrobe-"

"It's OK, dad," - she said. - "It was time for me to get up anyway. I'll get the broom," - she added, seeing how her dad was grabbing the fragments of furnish and carrying them out of the house. Wendy sighed. Her three brothers were still snoring happily despite the noise, but she was not such a heavy sleeper.

She quickly cleaned the room of dust and flinders, before heading to the kitchen. She decided that omelette would do for the morning, and retrieved a couple of eggs from the fridge, before hearing: "Daughter, make me some, I'm starving." With a sigh she dug six more eggs and some bacon from the fridge. She actually loved her father, and he did love her, but his personality made family affection complicated.

By the time she finished her breakfast, her eldest brother, Hank, was already awake.

"What's up, dad," - he said, coming into kitchen, getting an approving grunt from Manly Dan who was chewing on his bacon fiercely. - "What's up, slick," - he saluted Wendy, watching her from behind his thick forelock. - "What, can't wait to get back to your loser work to hang out with your loser friend?"

"Soos isn't a loser," - Wendy snapped at him. - "And I have a normal work, oh wait, sure it isn't as great as tree logging."

"Children, don't fight," - their dad yelled calmingly once he gulped down the breakfast. His son just smirked, while Wendy ran to her room, mumbling words of goodbye on her way. She quickly grabbed her backpack and made her way out of the house, to the Mystery Shack. While she was at work, she didn't have to spend time with her siblings. She actually loved them, she truly did, and they loved her back. But love in their family wasn't conventional.

That said, she wasn't really fond of her work at the biggest tourist trap in the Pacific Northwest. Her boss wasn't the most pleasant person she has ever seen, and dealing the whole days straight with the tourists, some of which were dead from the neck up, and the rest were even dumber, wasn't her dream work. But it paid, and it wasn't difficult - she may have not been brilliant at school, but she counted well, and cash machine made it even easier. And she had enough free time at work to read girl magazines, goof off and hang out with one of her very few friends - Soos Ramirez.

Yeah, she definitely wouldn't win a popularity contest among Gravity Falls' twelve-year-olds. In fact, all her peers were aforementioned Soos, Tambry - her actual faithful friend from when they were five years old, and Robbie Valentino, perpetually grumpy kid who hung out with them every now and then. So, she didn't have much reasons neither to come to work every day, nor to leave it in the evening. But she did it anyway.

* * *

"Oy. I wish you were late," - she heard when she entered the gift shop of Mystery Shack. - "Then I would've cut your pay," - Mr Mystery, also known as Stan Pines, came to the counter, leaning on his cane heavily. Behind him, Soos was visible fixing the vending machine near the 'Stuff only' door.

"Hi, dawg," - he said happily upon Wendy's arrival. - "Mr Pines allowed me to take some candies from the machine for free once I fix it. You want some?"

"Uh-" - Corduroy paused to think. - "Will they be free for me?"

"Ha!" - Stan exclaimed. - "You learn! OK, now cheer up, people. My great-niece is coming to town today, and she's staying for the whole summer. You'll definitely like her. Those who don't hardly live to tell about it."

"Cool!" - Soos approved, while Wendy rolled her eyes. - "What's her name?"

"Mabel Pines."

"How old is she?"

"Fifteen."

"I bet she's so smart! And she can tell us so much cool stories," - Ramirez was already excited.

"Cool stories is her profession," - Mr Mystery promised with a crooked smile before leaving the gift shop to greet the first round of tourists. Soos returned to fixing the machine, and Wendy, having some time before Stan finished the tour in the museum, and the crowd flooded the gift shop, drew a magazine from her bag. When the working routine came, she forgot about the morning talk until later in the afternoon when Stan said:

"OK, kids, the work's over for today. I have to go pick Mabel from the bus station. You can stay at the Shack and watch TV, I'll be back soon, and you'll meet her right away."

"But Mr Pines, she would probably be tired from the road and would want to have some rest," - Wendy retorted.

"You only say that because you don't know her yet," - the old man said. - "She would be overjoyed to meet you guys. Besides, while I'm out you can help yourself to the fridge, there's Pitt cola and some pizza from yesterday, heat it in the microwave."

"Happy to do it, Mr Pines!" - Soos eagerly obliged.

"Wait, why are you so generous all of a sudden?" - Corduroy asked with suspicion.

"My great-niece is coming to stay at my house for the whole summer, that's why!" Stan shouted, genuinely amused. - "You stay out of trouble," - he added leaving the Shack. A minute later, the preteens heard Stan's old pickup truck motor starting and drawing away.

"What's wrong with him?" - the girl questioned. - "He isn't grumpy at all today. He's, like, super nice."

"What do we know? He must really love his grand-niece," - her friend pointed out. - "Man, I'm very excited to meet her. I hope we make good friends, and hang out together all summer." - Wendy shrugged at this guess and made her way to the kitchen, reasoning it's stupid to lose an opportunity of getting free food from Stan. She and Soos grabbed some pizza and cola, and Wendy pertly took some cheese, bacon and bread to make sandwiches. The friends then proceeded to the living room and positioned themselves in front of TV.

"Hey, GF TV bargain movie marathon is on air," - the girl exclaimed. - "I thought they only show this at night. Hey, Soos, wanna watch it and make fun of their super hilarious movies?"

"Nah, these movies are dumb. Let's watch 'Used to be about history' channel, they always air adventure movies."

"Do you like adventure movies?"

"Yeah, a lot."

"Maybe you want to go on an adventure yourself?"

"I do, but I can't leave Abuelita alone," - he sighed. - "Wait, are you going to make fun of me because I want to go on an adventure?"

"What? Why would I? We're friends, right? Besides, I want to go on an adventure myself. I wish something exciting happened to me. But this stupid Dullsville we live in is just so boring."

"Wendy, don't say that," - Soos reassured her. - "There's Summerween, and that Woodstick festival."

"Pffft, yeah, right, super cool."

"And I've notice a lot of strange stuff about the town, you know?" - Ramirez started reciting. - "I think, the mailman is a werewolf. And then there's that one time when I've seen tiny bearded dudes in red hoods running from the Greasy's in the evening."

"Maybe they just didn't want to pay their check?"

"Oh, yeah, and there's Mr Poolcheck, too," - Soos continued obliviously, while Wendy turned the TV on the UBAH channel. - "Also, I've seen a Gravity Falls Gobblewonker last month, it was huge. Although it was in the distance, and it was misty, and maybe it was a log floating in the lake. And once a girl talked to me, I mean another girl, not you or Tambry, and she started talking to me first, that was really strange."

"Soos, listen, I know all those stories, like about floating eyeballs or that hide-behind dude my dad speaks about. But all these mysteries are lame. Like, elder cousins of the Mystery Shack junk. I wish there was some real mystery. Something really, truly cool. I wish something big happened," - she sighed.

Soos just watched the TV, slowly chewing his slice of pizza.

* * *

They watched an adventure movie on UBAH channel, but they didn't even make it to the middle. When the protagonist was about to make an epic jump from the window right on the horseback, sudden noise from the back door startled them. 'Back to the Shack, woohoo!' - came a shout from the hallway. Friends exchanged a look before heading to see the source of the sounds.

In the entryway by the back door they saw a girl, a little taller than Wendy, but clearly older, as her curvy figure indicated. Her dark brown hair reached past her shoulder blades, brown eyes shined joyfully and her smile gleamed with thirty two beautiful perfectly straight white teeth. She was wearing a rainbow-coloured crop top with a huge star symbol, denim shorts and dark-blue leggings with glittering stars all over them. The girl also had star-shaped sunglasses that currently rested on her forehead. In general, she looked like a human version of disco ball, Wendy thought. She realized that she herself, dressed in light green t-shirt and her favoured jeans, with her red hair gathered in twin ponytails, could become a descent ninja in close proximity of the shiny girl. Unexpectedly, upon her and Soos' arrival at the room the guest raised a camera she had in her hand and instantly made a photo of them.

"Boom!" - she exclaimed. - "Hello there, guys. I'm Mabel, but you can call me your guide to the world of entertainment and non-stop fun!" - Wendy rolled her eyes. What kind of introduction is this? But her pudgy friend appreciated girl's manners.

"Oh, that's so stupid cool, I'm Soos by the way. It's so nice to meet you!"

"The pleasure's all mine," - the girl smiled sincerely. - "And you, young lady?" - she asked Wendy, who suddenly realized that she was still standing like a statue with a frown on her face.

"This is Wendy, she's my best friend, and she's super cool," - Soos was quick to give explanations.

"Ah, yeah, I'm Wendy," - Corduroy realized that she was being rude. - "You're Mr Pines' grand-niece, right?"

"Of course," - Mabel's smiled widened. - "And I suppose, you're Manly Dan's daughter? You look a lot like him. Except for hair." - she said.

"Mabel!" - Stan shouted, entering the Shack. - "Get you luggage upstairs. My knees are killing me, and you know it, so don't expect me to help."

"One sec," - the Pines Girl responded, and darted outside. 'Waddles, stay close,' - sounded from out there. In a moment, Mabel was back inside, carrying a backpack, suitcase and a small, but tight bag. And she was followed by a pig. - "Waddles, say hello to our new friends," - Mabel said, and the pig oinked, inspecting Soos and Wendy with its tiny black eyes. It was actually very cute, and Soos didn't falter saying a loud and affectionate 'awwwww!' The girl and her pig then quickly ran upstairs beside Soos and Wendy.

"Gruncle Stan, I'm starving," - Mabel shouted. The kids didn't even notice when she was back from the attic. - "When are we going to eat?"

"Um," - Stan checked his watch, - "Half an hour, I guess. I'm making stancakes, and then we should start preparations."

"Oh, cool! My newfound colleagues will show me around meanwhile. Come on, guys, let's see what's new in the Shack." - she literally dragged Wendy and Soos to the gift shop. The pig stayed on her heels.

Once inside the gift shop, Mabel started to dance around, muttering something while passing past the shelves with merchandise. Coming close to the cash machine, she slapped a yellow gleaming sticker on it. She noticed Wendy's magazine on the counter, and tossed her a quick glance. She then approached the vending machine.

"OK, while Stan isn't watching, who wants to see some magic?" - not waiting for the answer, she tapped the machine several times, saying 'Bepety boop, voilà'. She then hit the door with her elbow, and the machine opened. Soos' jaw dropped in excitement, while Wendy frowned again. - "Help yourselves," - Mabel said, grabbing several candies and chocolate bars from the machine. Soos followed her example, and redhead girl tossed her hesitations aside. Soon the three of them were feasting on the candies, and even Mabel's pig, Waddles, wasn't left without a treat.

* * *

When infamous stancakes were ready, both Pines insisted that Wendy and Soos stay for dinner. Soos was on the seventh heaven, but Wendy was reluctant at first. She thought she would feel out of place on a small family dinner, but she got it all wrong.

"Evening, Mr Pines," - her eldest brother said as he broke into the kitchen when Stan and the kids were in there.

"You again, Henry," - Stan shook his head.

"Hank?" - Wendy asked in distrust.

"Yeah, and you expected to see whom? Mayor Cutebiker?" - he laughed.

"You'll help me to get the table outside," - Stan said.

"OK," - the guy shrugged. - "I brought a couple of pizzas."

"Great, put them on the fridge for now."

"Hank!" - came from behind an ear-piercing shout of excitement and joy. Next moment, Mabel, running into the kitchen, jumped at the Corduroy guy and tried to hug him, but he was too wide for her to embrace properly. He awkwardly patted her on the back.

"Hey, Mabes, finally you're back," - he laughed.

"Get a room, you two," - Stan shouted. - "Or actually don't. Wait at least a couple of years. And help me with the table and the dishes."

"Alright, alright, I'm on it," - Hank said, picking the table up and carrying it outside. Wendy noticed a blush on his face. - "Make way!" - she heard her brother shouting from the back door.

"Mr Pines, did you know that there is a suspiciously looking young man taking your furniture away from the house?" - a miniature brunette oriental girl asked as she entered the kitchen together with a chubby and tall auburn-haired girl who carried a plate with a cake.

"Candy! Grenda! Guys!" - Mabel outcried in obvious overexcitement, rushing to them and hugging them with force. The three of them ran away from the room, tweeting and chatting so much Wendy seriously thought there were at least three more girls she didn't see and only heard.

"What? Who's gonna help with the dishes?" - Stan yelled.

"Don't worry, Mr Pines, I'll help!" - Soos said, and Wendy, sighing, joined him.

* * *

The evening was overflowing with surprises - no one other than Old Man McGucket showed up at family meeting. Wendy always felt uneasy around the oddish greybeard. Mabel and Stan, however, were happy to see him. Hank was, too, but mostly because McGucket brought a roasted piglet with him. The dinner was fun. Mabel lived up to her self-proclaimed title of entertainment guide - she was talking all the time, but did not irritate, and she found time to talk to everyone. Wendy and Soos did not feel out of turn at all, and the food was great.

Yet another unbelievable thing was that Stan offered both younger kids rides home after the dinner was finished. So, when Wendy finally got home, she was somewhat puzzled. Doing the chores at home and making dinner for dad gave her a lot of time to ponder about the passing day. She didn't really know what to think about Mabel. On one hand, she wasn't ready to trust a person who's looks could give you an epileptic seizure from all the glistening and shining. But on the other hand, Mabel's personality was really prepossessing. So Wendy decided not to have any prejudice about the Pines girl.

'Maybe we can become friends,' - she thought, laying to bed at the end of the day. - 'Even though Mabel is older than me. I wonder what does she think about Gravity Falls? Does she find this town boring and dull? Probably yes. But why would she come here if she does? I should ask her. What if she really knows something cool about this town? What if she can share some secrets? Nah, she's probably here just to hang out with her great uncle and her friends,' - Wendy thought, drifting into sleep.

She saw weird dreams about Mabel who fought monsters and ghosts, and she, Wendy, was alongside her, fighting together with her and watching her back. Soos was somewhere nearby, too, helping them with what he could.

'Hilarious,' - Wendy thought in her sleep. - 'Nothing like this is ever going to happen.'

* * *

 **Good day kind reader, this is the first part of my first large story. It is my take on Anti-Gravity Falls AU, inspired mainly by AntiGravity Falls story by MagicMoneyPants, which rest firmly in the top five of the best fanfics I've ever read.**

 **This one is going to be rather lengthy, and I'll try to update weekly, but unfortunately can't promise this. All forms of feedback are extremely appreciated. So, please read and review.**

 **Stay weird. Also, merry Cristmas Carol**


	2. Now we run

The next day was rather routine, except that Mabel was around, thus the day was anything but routine. Wendy got used to her melodic humming almost right away, and she had funny and nice comments on practically everything around her. She talked to the customers, and it seemed that she can talk anyone into buying anything. So the business was speeding up, and Wendy was barely catching up with seemingly endless flow of tourists. This, however, didn't irritate her at all, since Mabel always cheered her up just by being nearby. She even covered for her at the counter when the younger girl asked for a short lunch break, despite the plenty of customers. Who knows, Corduroy thought, munching on her sandwich, maybe with Mabel around the dull work at the Shack would actually be fun.

Later, in the afternoon, Mabel was tinkering something at the corner of the counter. Wendy saw several small lightbulbs, coloured glass, wire and empty small cardboard boxes.

"What are you making here?" - Corduroy girl asked curiously.

"Oh, it's just a little project me and Gruncle Stan came up with," - Mabel explained. - "It's supposed to lure the tourists to the Shack. See, I have some lamps with small solar cell and accumulators. During daytime, it charges up, and when it becomes dark the lamp lights up. So, I put the lamps in the boxes and cut orifices looking like spooky eyes. And you can add colored glass, green or red, suit yourself. If you see it at dusk from the distance, preferably behind the trees, it'll look like eyes. Like someone - or something - is watching you."

Wendy hemmed.

"And how's this supposed to make people go to the Shack?"

"Dunno, this part of the idea belongs to Gruncle Stan. Maybe he hopes that it adds up to the whole atmosphere of mystic forest, or stuff."

"I see," - Wendy replied, not suspecting the woe yet. However, it didn't make her wait for long.

After the main tide of tourists subsided, Stan came to the gift shop. Mabel was already done with her handiwork by then.

"So," - Mr Mystery began, looking at his grand-niece's creations. Wendy was reading her magazine, Mabel was gathering the leftover supplies. - "now that we have these magic lamps that Mabel made for us, someone has to go to the forest and place them in strategical positions. Let's see. Soos is busy fixing the cistern. Mabel?"

"Candy and Grenda are about to visit, I have to stay here."

"I see. Wendy, that leaves you."

"Wha-"

"Do you know the Waterfall trail? That leads to the cliff overseeing the lake and the waterfall. What the heck, of course you do."

"But Mr Pines-"

"Take a golf cart and go there, once you reach the trail, place the light on the sides of it, deeper in the forests, and make sure they are visible from the trail. And leave the solar batteries in well-lit places, you hear me?"

"But-"

"Look, the lights shouldn't be visible during the day, so hide them in, like, hollows in trees or somewhere. But there must be a clear line of sight from the trail to the flashlight, so it would be visible in the twilight."

"Mr Pines, this forest is dangerous!" - Wendy said, receiving an odd look from Mabel.

"Look kid, I'm not asking you to catch me a bear, all you have to do is to go to the Waterfall trail and place some lamps there, it won't take you long, and you won't even have to walk, you'll ride. What can possibly happen to you in the most high-traffic part of the woods in a bright daylight in a span of thirty minutes?"

"Uggh, fine!" - Wendy yelled. - "Gimme those! I'll plant them where they'll give heart attacks to each and every one of your potential customers!"

"That's the spirit!" - Mabel cried approvingly. Stan facepalmed and waved his hand at Wendy - 'go already.'

* * *

And Wendy went. At first, anger boiled inside her, but driving through the forest distracted her from the thoughts of Stan and unjustice. She knew the forest well, but she didn't like it. And the fact that she only had to step on the edge of the forest, in well-lit and well-travelled place, didn't help much.

Murmuring curses to Mr Pines under her breath, she proceeded to work. At first it was challenging, as the trees around the Waterfall Trail didn't have a lot of hollows to place the lanterns at. But then she got a grip of securing them between the branches, sometimes even climbing up higher and leaving the lamps at the upper branches so if would seem that the eyes watched the trail from above. At one moment she actually started to find interest in the work, but it was exactly when she ran out of lamps.

After she hid the last lantern in the long crack in the trunk of a particularly large pine tree, she took a step back to evaluate her work. Suddenly, a glint of light at the corner of her eye took her attention. She glanced to the side. There was a fallen tree, its roots protruding aimlessly to the sky. From the pit left by uprooted tree something gleamed again. The girl came closer to the hole. Inside, she saw a flashlight. She carefully picked it up. The flashlight was old and very dirty, its glass shattered, and only a couple of shards left in it were still clean enough to reflect the sunlight. That was probably what she saw. She lowered the flashlight, looking in the hole again, and this time she saw something else gleaming dimly in the pit, buried even deeper in soil and mud. She knelled to reach for the thing with her hand, recovering it from the dirt. It was a book, a really old one, with a cover of brown leather, its corners binded with copper, and an image of six-fingered hand, apparently, carved from copper as well, on its cover. A large number '2' was written in the middle of the hand.

The book was in a plastic bag with zip lock. The bag was extremely dirty from laying in the pit for a long time, but the book itself seemed to be in descent condition. Wendy looked around, suddenly insure of her surroundings, before unzipping the bag. She took the book out and examined it closely. The book looked like it was brought to this world from a legend or a fairy-tale, a neat one. She slowly opened it on its first page. A small lens attached to the book by a cord was enclosed between the page and the cover. 'Property of-' - the first page read, the end of the line was illegible under the strains and spots that covered aged paper. Wendy turned the page.

'August 5.' - _I wonder what year_ \- 'Studying Gravity Falls and neighbouring forests for more than three years pushed me to a conclusion that one journal would not be enough to document all of my observations.'

Wendy flipped several pages. 'Gobblewonker,' - was written at the top of the left page of a random spread. There was a drawing of a creature called Gravity Falls Gobblewonker, a monster that rumours stated lived in a lake near the town. The drawing was followed with specification of where and how the author saw the creature and speculations on its origin, biology and habits, which continued to the right page. At the bottom of the right page Wendy saw an inscription 'Weaknesses', followed by a blank space and a couple of questioning marks.

The girl turned a couple more pages. 'Demon caterpillars' - she read. There was a picture of a gigantic caterpillar with a wide maw full of teeth and rows of thorns on its backs. Several paragraphs explained how the author encountered one of them in the forest, gave a detailed description and speculated on its physiology and ecological niche. 'Weaknesses' - stated the last paragraph. - 'Alchemical silver damages the creatures, giving them what appears like chemical burns on touch. Powdered silver, if sprayed upon the creature, gives it severe and broad burns with possibility of instant death.'

'Gravity Falls Vampires' - was written on another page. - 'Corn faeries'. 'Flying jelly summoning spell'. 'Manotaurs'. 'Creature #326' - there was a drawing of a triangle with one eye and tiny arms and legs, wearing a top-hat and a bow-tie. Wendy held the book at arm's length. What the hell is this thing? It looks like someone gathered all the town legends of Gravity Falls, mixed it with a bunch of the most hilarious bullshit in the world and wrote it all down conscientiously. She flipped several more pages by guess and suddenly paused. 'Will-o-wisp' - the heading stated. Wendy knew about will-o-wisps.

'Also known as will-o-the-wisp, this treacherous forest spirit appears at night in the woods or near the swamps. Presumably able to captivate humans with its sight, will-o-wisp leads them deeper to the forest thicket or, preferably, to the quagmire to leave its hapless victim there. Motifs and goals of the spirits are unknown.' - Then the author described occurrences of witnessing will-o-wisps in the forest by lumberjacks and hunters and several events of disappearance that could be attributed to person encountering will-o-wisp in the woods at night and being led away. - 'Weaknesses: unknown. Judging how will-o-wisps only appear during the night time it can be presumed that they are vulnerable to sunlight and, possibly, ultraviolet in general.'

Wendy closed the book. All of this seemed like a prank that was too long and too elaborate to actually be funny. All, except for the wisps. On the other hand, will-o-wisps were an actual element of a folklore, so they could have been included in this book without any actual knowledge about the real mystical creatures of Gravity Falls. But still-

Wendy looked around. Turns out it didn't take her long to dig the book out, and she decided that it's time to go back to the Shack. The girl put the book into her bag, climbed to the driver's seat, tossed the broken flashlight at the passenger's seat so she can put it in a trash can at the Shack, and started the ignition.

* * *

"Dawg, you would not believe whom I've met at the forest!" - Soos exclaimed, obviously overexcited. Wendy rolled her eyes. She did that a lot. - "There was that huge dude with red hair and red beard and a lot of muscles, who said that he is very manly."

"Dad?"

"Nah! That one had horns, too, and hooves," - Wendy frowned. - "He ate my meat chips and told me that he is very manly. I asked him what he was doing there, and he said that he was walking around the forest being very manly," - listening to her friend with half-ear, Corduroy girl was searching through the mysterious book. Since she returned from her trip and reported to Stan, she was just sitting alone in the gift shop leafing through the book absently. The business in this hours was slow to none, and no tourists bothered her. Stan was in the living room, Mabel left to the town with her friends. Suddenly, Soos tumbled in, with a wide and blissful smile on his round face. He immediately told her about encounter with a mysterious forest creature.

"And he said that his name was Chutzpar, and he asked me if I have any manly stuff, and I said yes, cuz I have a luchador mask at home, and I told him that I can bring it to him this evening to show him. So I'll go to see him again," - he continued.

"Did he look like this?" - Wendy showed her friend the page with 'Manotaur' inscription and picture.

"Yeah," - Soos nodded. - "How did you know? What is this book? Is it Mr Pines' new catalogue of Shack's exhibits?"

"Not exactly. Can I go with you to see this guy?"

"Sure thing, dawg. I'm so glad you decided to go with me!"

"Soos, change the lightbulb in the closet," - came a shout from somewhere inside the house, and the boy quickly ran to the resque.

* * *

Wendy would like to go with Soos right away, but she had to visit her home first. Daily routine was waiting for her there - doing the chores and making dinner for the whole family. When she was done, she wiped her forehead and left home. In ten minutes she was at Soos' place. His grandmother opened the door.

"¡Hola, chica!" - Abuelita greeted Wendy. - "Do you want some dinosaur-shaped cookies?"

"Oh, I'd love to," - Corduroy heard her stomach grumble, - "But we, me and Soos, are, like, supposed to hurry."

"It's alright, I'll give you a bag. A bag of cookies, Soos," - she said, seeing her grandson coming back from his room.

"Thanks, Abuelita, you're the best!" - he replied. - "I'll come back later." - He ran back from the house, dragging Wendy with him, who barely had enough time to grab the bag of cookies from Abuelita.

Together they ran through the sunlit streets of Gravity Falls, past Greasy's diner, then out of town, by the cemetery fence, and deeper to the forest. Soos then lead her through the 'spooky' part of the forest, and when they cleared it, they finally stopped and caught their breath.

"That's it, dude. That's where we're supposed to catch up with him," - Soos said.

"Are you sure he comes?" - Wendy asked. The idea of meeting an enormous magical beast alone in the woods seemed worse by the minute.

"Dunno. He said he'd come, so I guess we'll have to wait a bit." - He took a bag of cookies from Wendy and tossed a handful in his mouth. - "Hey, do you hear that?" - he said, munching on the cookies.

"What, your champing?" - the girl retorted, but then she heard. A loud and rhythmical thuds coming from the forest, like a footsteps, but unnaturally heavy. Hey were closing in very fast. The two friends started to look around, searching for the direction it was coming from, but only when the beast entered the glade did they see it.

The manotaur was huge. Wendy was used to see big people every day, namely her father, but Manly Dan would seem scrubby and scrawny in comparison. Manotaur's hands were like trunks of a century-old trees, and his chest, wide as a mountainside, surged with every breath that raised gusts of wind. Cloven hooves left deep marks in the ground. His red beard was gathered in a ponytail, and on his left shoulder a tattoo of a male gender symbol could be seen.

"You!" - the manotaur shouted, his roar bending the trees and making Wendy cover her head.

"Sup dawg," - Soos happily responded. - "Meet Wendy, she's my best friend, and she's really cool. Wendy, this is Chutzpar, he's my new friend."

"Did you bring it?!" - Chutzpar protruded his thick and callous index finger, pointing at Soos.

"Sure thing," - the boy replied. - "here you go," - he handed his mask to the manotaur. The beast looked at the mask for some time. It was light-blue, with yellow edging around the eyes, nose and mouth. He then starter to pull the mask over his head, although it clearly was way too small for him, and even if it wasn't, his horns and inhuman structure of the skull would have prevented him from wearing it. - "It's very manly," - Soos continued, oblivious to the futility of manotaur's attempts. - "I watch lucha libre matches a lot, and they fight just so cool. Batista bomb and diving headbutt are my favourite moves, they are very spectacular. Luchador fighting is not so popular here in US, but in Mexico it's, like, a national sport."

At this point he was interrupted with a sound of ripping cloth. The Manotaur finally managed to pull the mask over his nose, so that holes for the eyes were in place of his nostrils. But that was when the mask finally gave up and tore apart.

"You!" - Chutzpar roared, making Wendy cover her ears again. - "What did you bring me! This thing isn't manly at all!"

"But man-"

"You dare mock me?! I'll show you what a real man can do!" - with that, the Manotaur lowered his head and charged at the nearest tree, hitting his forehead on it. The crack of impact deafened kids for a moment, before they saw how the pine tree started to bow down and fall, slowly at first, but gradually rising its speed. - "See?!" - he growled, when the pine hit the forest floor with a deafening thump. - "You are next!"

Without further warnings, two friends turned around and ran as fast as they could. This, however, was nowhere near as fast as the Manotaur moved. In only a couple of seconds Wendy realized that he was right behind them. She pushed Soos in the shoulder with all her strength, jumping in the opposite direction afterwards. Her expectations were fulfilled - the Manotaur ran between them at a tremendous speed. Luckily for the preteens, his enormous mass prevented him from changing direction too quickly, and they managed to get relatively far from him. Not far enough.

A couple more of evasive manoeuvres saved them from Manotaur's wrath, but Wendy knew this can't go on forever. She saw a huge boulder ahead of them and, grabbing Soos by the hand, ran to it. They stopped once they reached it, panting heavily, and Wendy felt coldness of the stone wall she pressed her back into. Chutzpar didn't make them wait.

"Duck!" - the girl cried, pushing Soos' shloulder when the manotaur charged at them, lowering his head once again. They jumped to the sides simultaneously.

The impact was so heavy Wendy felt ground jump under her feet, and a shockwave hit her in the back. She stumbled and fell to her knees, turning back in fear and awe to see what happened to the manotaur. Despite her hopes, the beast didn't pass out, but his horns were firmly stuck in the side of the boulder, that was covered by a net of cracks.

"You!" - he shouted, trying to free his horns. - "Don't go anywhere, I'll break free in a moment, and then I'll teach you a lesson!"

Wendy immediately snatched Soos' hand and dragged him away, as far as possible from the emotionally unstable magical creature. They ran through the forest, urged on by distant shouts and threats. Then, when they were far enough to lose sight of their enemy, they heard thunderous crack that could mean only one thing - the manotaur has broken the boulder.

The girl looked around in desperation. Seeing a thick and widespread undergrowth of ferns she ran there, leading her friend with her, and when they were deep enough they ducked. Broad leaves covered them completely, and they sat there, trying to calm down their erratic breath. Lumping footsteps were getting closer by the second - the manotaur must have been tracking them by scent.

"Dude he must be really upset about the mask not fitting him," - Soos said.

"Soos shut up please!" - Wendy whispered, covering his mouth. - "He'll hear." - The girl felt her whole body trembling, as she couldn't contain her fear. - 'There must be a way to beat him,' - she thought desperately. - 'He must have some weaknesses. Weaknesses? The book said something about weaknesses.' - She carefully produced the book from her backpack and started flipping through the pages, searching for the 'Manotaur' entry. She knew she saw it earlier. Where was it? At the beginning? Closer to the end? Her hand were shaking so much she accidentally tore one page. Finally, she found it. 'Manotaurs,' - the header read. A picture of manotaur flexing his tremendous arms was drawn lower on the page. She quickly ran her eyes through description and moved on to the 'weaknesses' section.

'Weaknesses: easily distracted by food. Can be tricked into performing any long and useless task if convinced that it proves his manliness.' - They can outsmart him. While this task didn't seem too difficult, the very thought of failure sent shivers down Wendy's spine. 'We only have one chance,' - she kept telling herself. - 'only one chance.' - She didn't know what was that heavy thumping in her ears - footsteps of approaching manotaur, or blood pounding in her temples.

Footsteps finally stopped outside the undergrowth of ferns.

"I know that you are out there somewhere," - Chutzpar roared. - "Hiding like unmanly cowards you are! So get out of there and face me! Don't make me trample all the ferns with logs and boulders!"

"No, please, don't do this!" - Wendy hastily stood up, raising her hands in a surrender. - "We're here. And we have cookies," - she produced the bag of dinosaur-shaped cookies and shook it slightly. The treat inside made a crunching sound. Chutzpar stopped instantly, looking at the bag with heavy breathing.

"Can I have some?" - he asked finally. Wendy took a hesitant step towards him. The Manotaur seemed... unstable. There was no guarantee that he would not attack them again once he gets the cookies. However, it was clear to her that trying to negotiate with the beast may bring results. She took another step forward.

Up close he seemed impossibly huge. His hairy chest was like a meadow with a tall grass, and his head was up at unreachable height. Realizing the she was putting her life through a lottery, Wendy shut her eyes and handed the bag to the Manotaur. He emptied the whole bag of cookies on his gigantic palm and tossed them into his mouth. For a couple of moments he was chewing. Then he gulped down heavily and went still.

"Good," - he said finally. - "Is that it?" - Wendy nodded, unable to speak because of the lump in her throat. - "Pity," - Chutzpar sighed heavily. - "Sorry for chasing you, guys. I don't usually do things like this. I just- I had a bad day."

Wendy took a risk to let out a sigh of relief. This was easier than she expected. Discarding the fact that she and Soos almost were trampled a number of times.

"It's alright, dawg," - Soos cheered him. - 'This is not even remotely alright,' - Wendy thought. - "And why did you have a bad day?"

The Manotaur sighed, raising a small hurricane.

"I've met Multi-bear today," - he explained. - "I wanted to fight him, but he convinced me not to. We chatted a little, and, as Destructor told us that time, he turned out to be a cool dude. I went back to the Man-cave, and told other Manotaurs about it. But Lideraur said that if I hang out with Multi-bear, I'm not man enough. So, now the other dudes wouldn't hang out with me, and I don't know what to do."

"Maybe you need to do something manly to show them that you are still manly enough?" - Ramirez suggested.

"Like what?" - Chutzpar sighed again.

"Like, say, fight in a luchador match," - Soos proposed. - "Although the mask is ruined. But plenty of fighters perform without masks, so it's OK, I think. Your favoured moves should be all kind of body slams, dude. With your weight it'd be devastating!"

"Fight?" - the Manotaur sniffed the air. - "But whom shall I fight?"

"And who's the strongest guy you know?" - the boy asked.

"Lideraur, of course!"

"Then fight him!"

"What?!" - Chutzpar sounded shocked. - "No one fights Lideraur, he's too strong!"

"Dawg that's the point!" - Soos reasoned. - "Fighting weak dudes is, like, cheating. Fighting the strongest is manly!"

For some time the beast was silent, save for loud snuffling. At some point Wendy decided that it might be time to hold her breath again, but then Chutzpar stood up.

"Alright, I'll try it," - he said. - "Our Lideraur is, like, an OK dude, so I think we'll be cool. Thanks for the help, guys. And for the cookies," - he went back to the forest thicket, leaving a glade behind him.

"Dude it's no big deal," - Soos called after him. Wendy wiped her forehead.

"It was easier than I expected," - she confessed.

"What was easier?" - the boy asked her.

"Soos, we almost got killed!" - Corduroy cried.

"Oh, come on, he was just upset," - he waved his hand.

"You think so? And I thought my dad can be mad. Look, I'm thirsty. And hungry. And whacked. Let's head home?"

"I'm hungry too, but Wendy, it's kind of early now. And we're not far from the Mystery Shack. Maybe we can pay Mabel and Mr Pines a visit, you know? He did offer us pizza yesterday."

"Fine, but let's not remind him about it. What if he decides to charge us for it?" - the girl sighed. - "Soos, and let's not tell them about the Manotaur and all this, alright?"

"But why?"

"Soos, you know how those grown-ups can be. They just get some things so wrong. Things about some manotaurs or magical creatures - especially."

"But Mabel is not so grown up," - Ramirez pointed.

"Yes, but- I don't know. Maybe we'll tell her later, when we get to know her better. OK?" - her friend shrugged and nodded.

* * *

"What?" - Stan arched an eyebrow, looking over the kids. Their battered clothes and somewhat bruised faces did not escape his attention. He scratched his backside through the fabric of his boxers. - "You were strolling in the forest, and decided to stop by because you feel thirsty and hungry?"

"Um- well- yeah, I guess," - Wendy stuttered. Their employer sighed.

"Come on in, then," - he shrugged. - "You'll make me company at least. Mabel is about to leave again."

It turned out that he was watching TV in the living room. 'The Duchess approves VII' was on air. Stan just resumed watching, telling Wendy and Soos that they can take some pie from the fridge, and make sandwiches. Corduroy volunteered to bring food for everyone, while Soos happily joined Stan. Microwaving some pie and slicing bread, cheese and salami didn't take her long. She put everything on a large plate and headed to the exit.

Exactly when she was about to leave the kitchen, she had a very strange sensation of being watched. The girl slowly turned her head to the side, to see a ghostly figure some five feet away from her. The figure was almost transparent, shimmering and wavering in the air. It was so blurred that she couldn't pick out its face nor clearly see the figure. Even its height was changing constantly.

Seconds passed. The girl was just standing stone-still, holing the plate and staring at the apparition. What are you supposed to do when you see a ghost? Run away screaming? Faint? Beat it down with a crucifix? In fact, she simply could not believe that she was really seeing it. If it did anything, it may have shook the girl out of her stupor, but it was motionless, aside from its perpetual flickering and quivering.

Wendy didn't know how long did they stayed like this, studying each other, but finally the ghost slowly raised its hand, or at least an appendage that would pass for hand. It was pointing at the table. Wendy followed the hand with her eyes, and saw that the breadcrumbs on the tabletop were moving. She took a step closer, watching the dance of crumbs on the light, almost white wood of the table. Even the small puddle of water joined the moving chits, twisting and distorting. Words were formed on the tabletop.

'Stop Mabel'.

Wendy put the plate down to thoroughly rub her eyes with both hands. The sentence was still there. She looked back at the ghost, only to see that it disappeared. She read the writing again. 'Stop Mabel'. She was positive she saw it, but could not believe it.

She heard the footsteps approaching the kitchen and quickly wiped the tabletop with her hand, erasing the mysterious inscription. A second later, none other than Mabel Pines herself entered the kitchen.

"Sup again, Wen-wen," - she cheered. - "having problems finding food? In my gruncle's household it's no wonder," - she laughed. - "And you have a face on you like you just saw a ghost, what in the world happened?"

"I just- um- well-" - Wendy stammered. - "We were watching 'the duchess approves'-"

"Say no more," - Mabel patted her on the shoulder compassionately. - "Boy, this table is dirty. When gruncle Stan ever learns to clean the kitchen up properly?" - she took the wet cloth from the sink and started to wipe the table clean. - "well, are you going back to watch the movie?" - she asked the younger girl. - "Or are all the sandwiches for yourself?"

Wendy hastily returned to the living room. She gave Stan and Soos their share of snacks and joined them in watching the TV, but the whole time she was on pins and needles, and not only because 'The Duchess approves VII' was inhumanly boring - although Stan and Soos seemed to like it. The situation seemed absolutely surreal. A ghost told her to stop the girl who came to the town yesterday to visit her great uncle. This was incomprehensible, but this was reality. When the preteens finally headed their homes, she waited until they went relatively far from the Shack and stopped her friend, grabbing him by the shirt.

"Soos, listen," - she said. - "One thing happened while you were watching TV. I've seen a ghost in the kitchen."

"Oh my gosh, are you sure?" - Ramirez cupped his cheeks.

"Yeah, of course I am," - she nodded. - 'Although I'm not actually,' - she said to herself.

"No way! What did it look like? And old dude? Or a young guy? Or maybe a middle-aged woman?"

"I don't know, I could not spell out any details. It was like- just a silhouette, no more. And it told me to stop Mabel."

"What?" - the boy's jaw opened. - "Stop her from what? Dancing all the time?"

"I don't know, it didn't tell," - she sighed. - "I think Mr Pines and Mabel don't know about the ghost. I'm almost positive. Something is wrong here, Soos," - she said, deep in thoughts, letting go of his tee. - "I don't know, what. And I want to find out."

* * *

 **Here comes the first chapter. Hope you liked it. In any event, feedback is of great importance, as I'm trying to make it better, and I need your opinion.**

 **A very angry ravage, ilovefanfics105 - thanks for taking your time to revies. Dipper is elsewhere.**

 **It's New Year's eve now. So happy New Year. And stay weird.**


	3. Pixie's circles

"Random dance party for an absolutely valid reason!" - Mabel shouted before turning on an ancient tape recorder. Some music that Wendy rated as being at least two times older than herself sounded from dynamics. Soos and Mabel caught the pattern right away, shaking to the music. Corduroy didn't love to dance, but regardless, in several seconds she felt herself pulsating to the catchy rhythm too.

"What's the valid reason for the dance party?" - the girl asked.

"I want to dance!" - Mabel exclaimed, spinning so fast that her colourful skirt flew around her like flame. Wendy couldn't hold her smile.

"Ahem!" - Stan's hoarse voice said, as the old man entered the room. - "Not the kind of weirdness I'd like to see in my shop."

"But gruncle Stan!-"

"Mabel, seriously. You promised to help me around the Shack, how about you make yourself useful? I made a list of supplies I need, so take the golf cart and go make errands in the town."

"Great, what should I buy? Puppies, glitter, fireworks and water balloons?"

"Mabel, I've already made the list. Don't even think about adding puppies and glitter!"

"Gruncle Stan, that's boring! You're boring! Can at least Wendy come with me?"

"What? Who's gonna man the cash machine? The customers won't rip themselves!"

"But it's a lunch break anyway?" - Mabel protested.

"So let the gal eat her lunch and get back to work."

"Gruncle Stan, you're being mean to your employees again!" - his great-niece scolded him. - "We can have a quick lunch in town, and we'll be back before you know it. So can we go together, please? Pretty please!"

"Mabel, did you even ask her if she wants to go? Wendy, do you?"

"I- well-" - _stop Mabel_ \- "yeah, I'd love to."

"See? She can't wait to go!"

"Alright, I'll waste more time arguing with you," - Stan finally gave up. - "Just stay out of trouble."

"Yess!" - Mabel cried out triumphantly. - "Wendy, to the Mystery Cart - we're going on an adventure!"

* * *

"Is it legal to drive like this?" - Wendy asked, clinging to the cart's metal frame. Wind cooled her face while the Mystery Cart sped down the street. The traffic was lazy, as always, what didn't prevent Mabel from driving offensively.

"As gruncle Stan loves to say, everything is legal if there are no cops around," - the older girl replied.

"But what if they actually are around?"

"Then I put pedal to the metal until we lose them."

"Did you take tactical driving courses?" - Corduroy asked after Mabel aggressively overtook another car.

"They take tactical driving courses from me!" - Pines responded, parking the cart in front of the grocery store. - "Alright, let's move. Don't forget to grab absolutely everything you want to buy!"

Five minutes later they emerged from the store, loaded with bags of supplies.

"Keep up, Wendy!" - Mabel shouted. - "We have a couple of stores more to visit."

In twenty minutes they were done with the errands.

"Now we need a place to grab quick lunch, and we're heading back to the Shack," - Mabel suggested. They were packing their bags to the Mystery Cart parked near the convenience store. - "Greasy's diner, whadda ya say?" - she asked her younger companion.

"Driving golf cart around the town is like admitting out loud that you desperately want a car, but can't afford one," - they heard from behind. Mabel turned around on her heels, and Wendy looked behind her. There they saw a blond girl about Mabel's age, dressed in purple knee-long skirt and a jacket of matching colour. Purple shoes on low heels complemented the ensemble.

"Pacifica!" - Mabel uttered. Wendy frowned. Pacifica Northwest? That's the richest girl in town, spending her time walking around and insulting people?

"I see you found yourself an acolyte," - the blond girl continued. - "Braces, terrible taste in dressing, that reminds me of someone."

"You know, if you use too much peroxide on your hair, it might fall off," - Pines commented.

"Mabel Pines!" - the blond scowled at her, coming closer.

"Pacifica Northwest!" - Mabel came even closer, so that their noses practically touched.

After several moments of menacing silence, they both laughed and hugged each other tightly.

"It's so good to finally have you back," - Pacifica said. - "It's a shame I couldn't see you yesterday."

"Yeah, me, Candy, Grenda and Hank had such a good time."

"I won't miss any of your parties ever again, I promise! And who's your friend?" - Northwest asked, looking at younger girl. - "I'm sorry, kid, if I offended you earlier, I didn't mean it. This light green colour actually suits you."

"Pacifica, meet Wendy Corduroy," - Mabel explained. - "She's Hank's younger sister, and works at the Shack. Wendy, this is Pacifica Northwest, my friend and somewhat long-term rival."

Pacifica waved her hand at Wendy with a pleasant, although somewhat tense, smile, but the ginger was still disturbed by what was said concerning her looks. It was a painful topic.

"Mabel, it is great to see you again," - the blond's smile only widened. - "We should totally celebrate your comeback."

"You and me, comeback celebration? Sounds incredible, we just need to chose time."

"How about right now?" - Pacifica suggested.

"Um, let me see," - Mabel made a thoughtful face. - "We were heading to someplace we can have a lunch, and then Gruncle Stan waits us back to the Shack, and we promised him we won't take long... So yeah, right now is about a perfect timing!"

* * *

"...she opens the door, cobs of web clinging to her, all dusty and dirty, with a broom in her hand, and exclaims: 'It is broken!' And then I'm like: 'You land on it with all your weight and expect it not to break?' And she's like: 'No, I mean, it doesn't fly'"

"Oh my gosh!" - Mabel nearly fell under the table, shaking with laughter. - "Grenda never told me!"

"Just another regular Gravity Falls Halloween for you," - Pacifica waved her hand. - "So, Mabel," - she said, sipping her cocktail through a straw, - "now that you're here, what are your plans for the summer?"

"Oh, you know, just the usual," - Pines shrugged. - "Epic Summerween costume party, legendary Woodstick rave, fantastic real-life quest on Pioneer's day, otherworldly celebrating of Northwest day, and, of course, Pines day at the end of the summer. And lots of crazy stuff in between."

"Any mystery hunting?" - Pacifica asked hesitantly. Wendy's ears perked up. She thought that brunette girl's eyes darted at her for a split second, but she might have been wrong.

"Paci, please," - Mabel waved her hand. - "I have better things to do now. And I'm getting too old for this," - she earned a batch of giggles and 'Oh, shut up, you're joking!' from Pacifica. - "No, seriously, I feel like I'm going through an age when all this weirdness chasing is losing its charm. I'd rather hang out at discos and parties, flirt with boys. Too bad there are no discos and parties in Gravity Falls." - she sighed, - "Ah, who am I kidding. Of course I'll do a fair share of good ol' monster hunting and mystery solving. And if you want to take part, all you need to do is to make puppy eyes and say 'Mabel!' in a cute voice. What do you think, can you manage that?"

"I'll do my best," - Pacifica giggled again.

"What about you, Wendy," - she turned to the younger girl. - "Want to see some monsters, mysteries and the supernatural?"

"I- um-" - _Stop Mabel_ \- "I don't know."

"OK, if you don't know, I'm not forcing anyone to do anything, right, Paci?" - that resulted in yet another series of giggles from the blond. - "OK, it's all fun and games, but Gruncle Stan is probably waiting for us already. Thanks for the company, Paz. I'll call you later. Now that we're both here, we should totally hang out every day."

"I can't agree more," - Pacifica smiled again, hugging Mabel.

* * *

At the Shack Stan Pines was a storm of fury for his great-niece and cashier skipping too much work. However, Mabel's puppy eyes made him lose temper very quickly. He still berated the two girls, but this was more of a formality. The rest of the working day passed without incidents. When her shift ended, Wendy tossed her magazines into the bag, said goodbye to Mabel and Stan and together with Soos made her way out of the Shack. She hastily made it home, where it didn't take her long to do the everyday routing her father had appointed her to. Afterwards, she snatched her journal, putting it into the bag and quickly ran outside. She knew her friends were already waiting for her, and she couldn't wait to tell them about the book.

They gathered under Northwest's monument, as they did almost every evening.

"What should we do today, guys?" - Soos asked.

"Let me show you," - Wendy said, fishing journal #2 out of her bag. - "Check this out, guys!" - she opened the book on the page with Manotaurs entry, showing it to her friends.

"What's this?" - Robbie wrinkled his forehead.

"I found this book yesterday in the forest," - the girl started explaining. - "There are all sorts of magical creatures listed here, and guys you wouldn't believe it! Yesterday me and Soos, we met one of these guys," - she pointed at the picture of manoutaur, - "and this book saved us when he wanted to trample us!"

"Wendy is telling us some crazy stories," - Tambry announced. She had a peculiar habit of commenting whatever her friends did and said.

"This is some dumb bullshit!" - Robbie said. - "If you want some real mysterious spooky stuff, we should go and explore the haunted house on the Willows street."

"This isn't bullshit!" - Wendy's face reddened. - "It all actually happened yesterday, and this book is for real! We can show you if you want."

"Well, and I don't want. I want to go in the haunted house. They say there's a witch coven in there, or a ghost. Some dudes say they've seen its windows glowing at night."

"But if there are witches in there, isn't it kinda dangerous?" - Ramirez shuddered.

"Oh, you just listen to him! It's dangerous, we're gonna get killed. Go hide under your grandma's skirt, you patsy!"

"Robbie, you leave Soos alone!" - Wendy demanded.

"But he's a chicken! Or what, are you scared too, Corduroy?"

"Shut up!"

"Robbie is trying to trash talk Wendy," - Tambry stated.

"If you aren't scared of ghosts, than prove it. And we'll watch you going there," - Robbie pressed.

"Uh, fine!" - Corduroy rolled her eyes. - "It's a good thing I have my stuff with me."

"What stuff?" - Robbie frowned. - "Why do you always need some 'stuff'?"

"Do you have a flashlight?" - Wendy parried. - "'Cause it's probably dark inside the house, right? You'll trip over something, bruise your knee and run home crying."

"Why, you!-" - Robbie started though clenched teeth.

"My friends always fight over, like, anything," - Tambry said.

"Wendy, you're so prudent," - Soos cheered.

Wendy checked the insides of her bag just in case. Some camping and hiking supplies were constantly in there - a flashlight, matchbox, insect repellent, band aids. A small bottle of Pitt cola in case somebody gets thirsty. A couple of granola bars. It was a kind of family paranoia, and Wendy seriously wondered if it ever pays off, but she couldn't help but have all of this with her at any time.

"Let's go, guys," - she said. The team headed to the abandoned house.

* * *

On the inside the house was musty, dank and quiet. Thick layer of dust and rubbish covered the floor and ramshackle furnishing. Four friends went through the hallway slowly. Even Robbie, despite his bravado, felt uncomfortable. View of the walls, with scraps of exfoliated wallpapers and exposed wood, darkened by time and covered in molds, made a depressing effect on the preteens.

They entered a large room that most likely used to be a living rooms. It was in the same poor state, with scraps of furniture and decorations laying in shambles. Two of three windows were planked. A web-covered fireplace in the inner wall had a grim resemblance of an open toothless mouth. There even were mushrooms growing on the floor and on the walls in couple of places.

"What's this?" - Soos asked, pointing at particularly large mushrooms that grew in an uneven row. When Wendy covered the floor with her flashlight, they saw that mushrooms actually formed a circle some ten or twelve feet in diameter.

"It's a pixie's circle," - Wendy said perplexedly. - "Why is it even here?"

"We discovered a pixie's circle," - Tambry stated.

"Dudes, they say pixie's circles are associated with witches and evil spirits," - Soos shivered.

"Oh, look, a pixie's circle, there are witches and spirits everywhere, we're all gonna die!" - Robbie snorted. - "Get it together, it's just shrooms, what's there to be afraid of? The witches won't take you anyway, you're too heavy!" - he nickered.

"Robbie, stop saying stuff about Soos," - Wendy barked at him.

"Stop babysitting him!" - Valentino retorted. - "Gosh, when will he ever man up? Patsy."

"Why do we even hang out with you?" - Corduroy groaned. - "OK, whatever, dudes, what is this thing doing here? These circles are supposed to grow on the fields or in the woods."

"The building is on the edge of woods," - Tambry reasoned. - "Maybe the circle just, you know, got lost or something?"

"This is strange," - Wendy said.

"This is cool," - Robbie said. Wendy tossed him a displeased look, but deep inside she agreed with him - among all the everyday boredom this was a welcome change. She went on to the far side of the hall. There was a door leading into another short hallway, as dark and dirty as the previous one. Wendy slowly proceeded down the hallway, hearing the footsteps of her peers behind.

"So far the abandoned house is creepy," - Tambry said in a low voice. Corduroy, meanwhile, tested the first door. It was stuck, perhaps swollen with dampness. She tried the second door and managed to open it with relative ease. There was a room behind it, a bit smaller than the previous hall. It was in the same desolated state as the rest of the house. Rickety wardrobe by one of the walls was so unsteady that only an old sofa, thoroughly damp and barely visible from the clutches of mushrooms, it was leaning at, prevented it from falling down. Two other doors were leading outside of the room, one of them was hanging on one hinge, a staircase leading to the second floor was visible behind it. Windows were, again, planked.

The kids gathered around the sofa. Mushrooms have overgrown it so thickly that only the general outline of the piece of furniture could be made out.

"Guys this is stupid cool," - Robbie laughed.

"This sofa is like a mushroom city," - Tambry said.

"Colorful," - Wendy murmured, pecking off a small bit of one especially peculiar mushroom, with a wide violet hat.

"Look at this," - Soos said. - "Guys, this one is bigger than my arm! I wonder if there are bigger mushrooms around?"

Sudden loud rumble from behind took Wendy's attention, and she quickly turned around shining a flashlight to see the source of sound. The door out of the room, the one that was previously closed, was broken into pieces. Behind it stood a gigantic mushroom, the height of Manly Dan, not less. As she was pondering on its enormous size, the mushroom took a step towards her.

Wendy was struck dumb. That was impossible, but it was true - the mushroom had two legs, broad and stout, and also two very beefy arms that ended with what looked like mighty fists. The girl could not even tell if it had fingers at all. Ultimately, it was humanoid in shape - with a round and heavy cap in place of a normal human head. And it was currently pacing towards her and her friends. Slowly but purposefully.

"Sup, dawg," - Soos said. The rest of their group, however, wasn't so cheered. Wendy snatched Soos by the hand and ran to the exit, dragging him behind her. Robbie and Tambry followed close.

Once they left the room, Wendy quickly shut the door and ran down the hallway to the exit.

"Move, people!" - she shouted.

"It's a giant mushroom. Maybe it's friendly?" - Ramirez asked, however, not slowing down.

"Friendly?!" - In what worlds does Soos get such ideas? She looked back over her shoulder right in time to see that the door to the room was pulverized by mushroom's powerful punch. - "How's that for friendly?"

In several seconds they were at the front door of the building. Wendy made a running jump through the hallway and bumped her whole weight into the door. It hurt a lot, while the door didn't shift an inch.

"Aw aw aw!" - the girl cried out, rubbing her bruised shoulder.

"What? It's stuck?" - Robbie yelled, grabbing the handle and yanking it back and forth. It didn't help.

"The window!" - Tambry cried. Friends rushed back to the hall, to the only window that wasn't planked, trying to open it, but the frame didn't move either.

"What the hell, how is this possible?" - Robbie picked a wooden plank from the floor and stroke the window with it. Sound of breaking glass was somewhat muffled by heavy steps of approaching monster. Dirty glass was covered by a net of cracks, but all the pieces were in place. - "It can't be!" - the boy lowered his hands in disbelief.

"Guys, follow me!" - Wendy shouted. She realized that their speed gives them a little advantage over the fungus, but if it corners them in a narrow hallway it will be free to do with them whatever it wants. - "Watch out!" - she ran behind their enemy and further down the hallway deeper into the house. The monster tried to reach for her, but was too sluggish.

"Where are you going, dawg?" - Soos asked, running close to her.

"It's slow, we can at least run from room to room until we think of a way out!" - Wendy explained. She only wished she felt the confidence that sounded in her words. For how long can they run around? The mushroom will hardly ever tire, while they eventually will. They can test other windows in the building, and maybe it has a back door, but how much time will it take? - "Come on," - Wendy urged her friends, - "we can't stay in one room for long," - she looked around. - "Upstairs, quick." - she ran to the staircase, moving aside the wobbly door that hung on one hinge. The girl hoped that it will take mushroom some time to climb upstairs.

On the second floor they came to another short hallway. Quick test of the first door showed that it led to a spacious room that was barely dimly lit by the evening sunlight through the dusty web-covered windows. Wendy ran inside and closed the door behind her. She grabbed what looked like a chair leg and tried to punch out the glass. Results were the same as on the first floor - it broke but did not fall. She tried again and again, but the broken pieces stayed in place.

"What are we doing in here?" - Robbie cried, panting heavily.

"Shut up," - Wendy said, tossing the chair leg aside. She opened her backpack and retrieved a journal from there.

"What's this?" - Tambry asked with a shaking voice, looking over her shoulder. Wendy didn't answer. She sat on the floor beside an old cupboard and started searching through the pages, using her flashlight to lighten the pages. She didn't even know if it was written about the mushrooms in this journal, but intuition told her that they don't really have any other options.

"Your stupid book won't save us!" - Valentino shouted. - "We need to find an exit!"

"Shut up," - Corduroy repeated. She let out a sigh of relief when she found a page with an inscription: 'Giant walking fungi' and a drawing of a said fungus on it. Bad news didn't make her wait long - a second later thumping of sturdy feet on the floor indicated that their pursuer was already in the hallway. - "Guys, give me some time!" - Wendy pleaded. - "I found an article about these mushrooms, maybe it tells how to defeat them, but I need time to find out. Keep it busy while I read!"

"How the hell?" - Valentino squeaked, seeing the gigantic bulk of a mushroom jostling through the door.

"I don't know, think of something, dammit!" - Wendy yelled desperately. Soos exchanged a look with the others and ran around the mushroom, while it was slowly marching to them. The boy bumped his fist on its massive backside and exclaimed 'tag!'. The mushroom stopped and turned around to head for the boy. Tambry, cheered by Soos' example, ran to the mushroom and clapped her hand on its rear, crying 'tag!'. It started to turn around, before Soos tagged it again. Seeing their friends' success, Robbie joined the game of tags.

Wendy wiped her forehead. It looked like her friends could provide enough distraction for her to read in relative peace. She returned to the book.

'Weaknesses: walking mushrooms, as well as smaller sporocarps' - what the hell is a sporocarp?! - 'from the same mycelium,' - what in all hells is a mycelium?! - 'are damaged by ultraviolet and, if exposed to it, try to hide and, if fail to escape, become dormant. Fire scares them away, both the mobile bodies and mycelium gifs.'

'How is any of this helpful?' - Wendy thought. - 'Am I supposed to push him into a tanning booth? Or should we have brought a flamethrower? I should read the description, maybe there's something useful in it. I have time, the guys can distract it, like, forever - there are three of them and only one mushroom.'

With a horrifying thunder a door to the old cupboard split apart, revealing another walking mushroom. Corduroy dropped the flashlight in surprise, and at that moment Soos tripped and fell.

"I'll kill you!" - Wendy cried, without even realizing what she was saying, rising to her feet and thrusting her fist in the mushroom's belly. It answered with a wide swing of an enormous arm, but the girl, being trained by Manly Dan Corduroy himself, easily dodged. Her loud cry and unexpected action distracted the other mushroom, which stepped towards her instead of trampling Soos, who used the spare time to get up. The girl meanwhile hastily picked up the book and flashlight and jumped to the side just in time to escape another strike. - "Downstairs, move!" - she shouted, and her friends wasted no time getting out of the room. Darting to the side again, she ran around the other mushroom and followed them. Looking back for a second she saw how the two walking mushrooms interfered in the door frame, being in each other's way.

In less than a minute the kids were in the hall with a fireplace again.

"We have some time now before they come down here," - Wendy said, panting. - "I'll see if there are more hints. You guy stay on lookout, alright?" - she opened the book again. It didn't take her long to find the necessary page this time. Knowing that 'weaknesses' section doesn't have any useful info, she decided to read from the very beginning.

'Colossal walking fungi belong to a very peculiar species that inhabits Gravity Falls woods, caves in nearby rocky areas and generally humid places with a lot of shadow to protect them from direct sunlight during daytime. The species has a spreading mycelium and forms sporocarps not unlike other Basidiomycota species, but is also capable of forming large and mobile bodies. Apparently these fungi express carnivorous behaviour, with mobile bodies performing the role of predators snatching animals that come too close. Rotting carcases provide nutrition to the mycelium.' - the red-headed gulped down heavily. - 'However, other substrates were proven to be of interest to the mushrooms, particularly products with high concentrations of glucose. In fact, presence of glucose available to the mycelium will distract the mobile bodies for some time.'

"Glucose?" - Wendy asked aloud. - "Glucose is sugar, right?"

"Yes, it is," - Tambry replied. - "Why?"

Instead of answering, Corduroy retrieved a bottle of Pitt cola from her backpack.

"We can distract them with this," - she explained. - "From what I've read, it would be enough to spill it on the floor, on that pixie circle. Keep it in mind if they get here anytime soon."

A thunderous crack echoed across the building as a section of ceiling collapsed, and a walking mushroom fell down from the second floor.

"You gotta be kidding me!" - ginger girl whispered, while her friends let out a loud cry in unison. The mushroom clumsily got on its feet and started walking to them. By that time Wendy already opened the bottle of Pitt and splashed some on the floor. Her enemy paused for a couple of seconds. Wendy ran to the fairy ring and poured some cola over the mushrooms. The giant one stopped, as if it was paralyzed.

"We need to find something to burn," - Corduroy said.

"Burn?" - Robbie wondered. - "Why?"

"With that we can open the windows. Hopefully," - the girl explained. - "Quick, who knows how much time do we have left 'till it moves again." - At that very moment the mushroom woke from its stupor and made a step towards Wendy.

"Just what is your problem?!" - ginger cried out, enraged. - "What do you want with us? What does it take to stop you?"

The mushroom came another step closer. Wendy poured some more cola at the circle on the floor, and the monster stopped again.

"Soos, come here," - Corduroy commanded. - "Take the cola and spill some on the shrooms every time this shithead moves."

"You got it," - beefy boy ran to her and took a bottle from her hands. Wendy took her backpack and retrieved a matchbox from it. Then she reached inside and took a container of insect repellent. She came to the window, lit a match and pushed the button. A stream of aerosol erupted from the valve, flaring up instantly at burning match. Tongues of fire licked the window.

"What are you doing?" - Robbie cried out.

"The book says it can be startled by fire," - she explained, not stopping the fiery assault on the window. - "From what I read, the shards of glass are held in one place by mushroom's roots or something. Let's find out if they can really be frightened by fire. Or burned down, for that matter."

"But what if they wouldn't?" - Valentino asked in panic.

"Then I'll make sure you'll die first!" - Wendy gritted her teeth. At that moment one piece of glass fell down from the window. - "See? It works!" - she laughed nervously, as the shards started falling off one by one.

"Oh, thank goodness," - Soos exclaimed.

Most of the shards were now laying on the floor, except for some that still adorned window frame. Corduroy lowered aerosol can, giving the opening a look. In the back of her mind Wendy found the almost-empty window frame with pointed shards sticking from it resembling shark's maw full of razor-sharp teeth. It was menacing.

Tambry picked a plank from the floor and started to beat out the remaining shards of glass from the window frame. Then the thud of heavy step ringed behind them. Wendy turned in time to see that the giant mushroom was heading towards her again.

"Soos, pour some cola on the floor!" - she cried.

"Sorry dood, I just drank the rest of it when you said that your flamethrower works," - Ramirez explained. - "I was, like, stressed."

Wendy mentally facepalmed herself so hard that her head exploded, but in real life she didn't have time for this. She turned back to the window frame. Too many shards remained there. And as if their current situation was not pessimistic enough, the second mushroom fell down through the hole in the ceiling. Wendy tossed her backpack over the window frame, covering the shards in the bottom edge.

"Quick, guys, let's move!" - she urged her friends. Robbie helped Tambry climb over the frame, then he went through himself. Soos was already by her side at that moment. Wendy helped her pudgy friend so he could make it through the frame. She noticed that he hit one the remaining shards, tearing his shirt and injuring his side. She then hopped over the frame as fast as she could, but in a haste she herself scraped one of the shards, as she felt the pain stinging her elbow.

Once outside, she quickly grabbed her torn backpack and jumped away from the window in time to evade the mighty punch of a mushroom-man that dislodged the window frame partially. The friends ran away through the woods without waiting for their enemies to follow them. They stopped only after a several minutes, panting heavily and sweating buckets, but they were alive.

"Come on, guys," - Tambry said. - "The town is that way from here, I can see the lights. Better we get out of the woods before something else comes for us."

They made their way to the lights in the distance that turned out to be street lamps. There they saw a bench, and the four of them collapsed on it, exhausted from their ordeals and unexpected life-and-death struggle.

"I have granola bars," - Wendy said after several minutes, breaking the silence.

Soos reached out with his hand, and Wendy put one bar in his open palm.

"That was intense," - Tambry admitted finally. - "Next time we should hang out somewhere more calm."

"I have an X-station at home," - Robbie said. - "We can chill out in my place."

"Dudes, I'm going home," - Wendy said. She stood up and walked slowly to her family's cabin.

* * *

She walked, it seemed, infinitely, having trouble putting her feet, her head hanging low of fatigue. When she was finally at the porch and dragged her palled body inside, she bumped into Hank.

"What, done already?" - he grinned. - "Early today, aren't you? Did your friend finally realize they don't want to hang out with you?"

"Yeah," - Wendy said dumbly, not really paying him any attention.

"Hey, wait, what's that?" - he pointed to her bloodied elbow.

"Oh," - Wendy was too tired to care. - "I've cut myself accidentally."

"Cut? On what?" - Hank inquired, frowning.

"Um- a branch, a broken tree branch, it had a sharp edge." - Her brother shook his head.

"Let me see," - he took her arm carefully, inspecting her injury. - "Not very deep, and the cut's clean enough. Go to the bathroom and wash it thoroughly."

So she went. A feeling of cool water helped her come to. She washed her face and looked in the mirror. It was still her, Wendy Corduroy, tall and skinny, freckled, red-headed. She looked tired.

When she went out of the bathroom, Hank was waiting for her. He took her to the kitchen and disinfected the cut, then he put a bandage on it.

"Here you go, sis," - he smiled. Wendy thanked him wearily. - "So, are you gonna tell me what happened?" - he asked, while she was having dinner.

"What do you mean?" - the girl tried to express surprise on her face.

"I mean - where were you really, what were you doing, how did you get this cut? Doesn't look exactly like a cut on a sharp tree branch to me. Unless the branch was sharpened on purpose," - it was one of a rare times she could see Hank's eyes through his thick forelock.

"But bro," - Wendy protested, - "I'm saying the truth! We were- um- running through the woods, and I accidentally injured myself on a sharp bough, that's it."

"I hope you weren't doing anything dangerous," - he sighed.

"Since when did you get so protective?" - his sister asked with suspicion. Instead of answering, he ruffled her hair and went out.

* * *

After she finished the dinner and washed the dishes, she felt that her fatigue hit her again. The girl made her way to her room and fell on the bed face-first. She thought she was going to just lay there for a minute and then stand up, clean her teeth, make her bed, change in pyjama and then go to sleep. Next thing she knew, her alarm woke her up. She dazed, disoriented and startled, reaching blindly for her nightstand to turn the alarm off. Groggily she stood up from her bed and looked around. She felt terrible, and every bone and muscle in her body hurt. Her clothes were dirty and torn. Her glance fell upon the journal #2 that was shyly peeking out of her backpack that was lying on the floor beside her bed. She slowly picked it up.

"And here I thought that studying is over for the summer," - the girl mumbled, looking at the journal. Now she knew that she would have to learn it better than any schoolbook. What wouldn't you do when your life depends on it? The journal described all kind of dangers one could find out there in Gravity Falls and the neighbourhood, and Wendy had to memorize it all if she ever wanted to get away from those troubles. There seemed to be another way to solve that - to stay at home, keep it safe, though somewhat boring. But something told Wendy that even if she wouldn't go searching for trouble, there was no guarantee the trouble wouldn't come searching for her.

* * *

 **So, this is chapter two. Hope you enjoyed. Please leave comments, I need the feedback to make this story better. My gratitude goes to people who already commented. Shadow Wolfe, thanks for encouragement. About a ghost - I never thought it would be much of an intrigue. Special thanks goes to William Easley who did a great job pointing out at all the mistakes I made in the prologue. I'll try to be more attentive, but still...**

 **Stay weird**


	4. Laser Cannon Death Sentence I

'Stop Mabel'. These words, together with the ghost, appeared in front of Wendy two more times. And she still had absolutely no idea what was that supposed to mean or what was she supposed to do.

"What do you think the ghost means?" - she asked Soos once.

"Dunno, dawg," - he shrugged. - "You're the only one who's seen it. I'm not saying I don't believe you," - he added hastily, - "but you know, it'd help me figure out if I'd seen it at least once. And what do you think it wants?"

"Heck if I know," - she murmured absently.

"Hey, Wendy, I want to take a part in this too," - Soos said meekly. - "If there really is a mystery-"

"Don't worry," - she smiled, reassuring him. - "After what we've been through, we're, like, mystery buddies. If anything happens, I'll never leave you out of this." - The boy smiled back. Indeed, quite a lot has happened to them since Wendy found the journal. After the incidents with a Manotaur and with walking mushrooms, they've managed to stay safe and sound for almost three weeks. But the preteens didn't waste their time and sit still - they've visited forest gnomes who wanted to keep Wendy as their queen but changed their mind after Soos explained them that US is not a monarchy; they discovered that a mailman is in fact not a werewolf, but a distant offspring of a bigfoot family that lived in the woods for centuries; found out that giant eyeballs floating in Gravity Falls lake rest in a secluded underwater grotto during the nights; they've seen a human-sized bipedal rat with a gas mask in the forest; bumped into a small herd of unicorns who turned out to be top-tier jerks. So yes, they explored quite a lot. They just did it carefully.

But Wendy's other field of exploration, related to Mabel, was a failure. Pines girl was such an approachable, such an open person, to imagine she could have some dark secrets was almost impossible. But there was a ghost, Corduroy has seen it. She was confused, and she wanted to get to the bottom of it, but she didn't want to risk her friendship with Mabel.

So Wendy decided to act carefully. First, she tried to have help from someone who she supposed knew the girl closely.

"So, Hank, you hang out with Mabel a lot, right?" - she asked at the dinner. Her eldest brother turned away from the baseball game he and the younger brothers were watching.

"Yeah, why?"

"How's she doing?"

"You work at the place she lives in. Why not ask her?"

Wendy mentally slapped herself across the face.

"I mean, what's she doing here?" - Wendy asked.

"She's staying for summer at her great uncle's place, what do you think?"

"Uh, and that's it? Why come here, in this dull town, all the way from California?"

"Her great uncle lives here, and she has friends here," - Hank said, frowning. - "What's wrong with you, sis? Why so much interest in Mabel all of a sudden?"

"Um, never mind," - Wendy murmured, pretending to be completely focused on her dinner.

* * *

"So, Mabel," - she started the other day at the Shack, when they were alone in the gift shop. - "What are you doing here?" - just as the words left her mouth, she realized how dumb did it sound.

"Escuso?" - Pines girl wrinkled her nose.

"I mean, why did you come here in the first place?" - Wendy continued, sweating profusely. - "To Gravity Falls, that is."

"Errm," - Mabel was an embodiment of confusion. - "To wreck havoc, terrorise the citizens and spill blood. I guess. Why?"

"It just sounds a bit strange to me," - Wendy avoided her eyes, - "You came here all the way from California, just to spend all summer breaks in our stupid middle of nowhere?"

"Um, pretty much, yes," - the elder girl nodded. - "My great uncle lives here, and my best friends too. And the place is not so boring, I assure you, or maybe it just helps that people I hang out with are absolutely awesome, Pacifica for example," - the door chimes ran delicately as Pacifica Northwest entered the gift shop, - "This is called 'summoning spell'," - with a toothy grin Mabel told Wendy, who rolled her eyes from a force of habit.

"What did I miss?" - the blond inquired, seeing Mabel's cheers.

"Me?" - Pines suggested. - "Everyone misses me when they're not around, right?"

"Pretty accurate," - Northwest smiled. - "So, what's up? Any plans for tonight?"

"Pacifica, I might need your help," - Mabel admitted. - "Wendy here complains that Gravity Falls is too boring and nothing ever happens around. We need to do something to change her mind."

"Let me think," - Pacifica tapped her chin. - "What can I possibly do? Anything. For example, I can talk my father into paying your favourite band to come to Gravity Falls with a concert tour. What's your favourite band, girl, by the way?"

"The Beatles," - Wendy announced gloomily. Blonde's smile faded a little.

"Look, there gotta be something you enjoy doing in your free time, right?" - she asked.

"Make way!" - the door opened again, and the floorboard creaked under the heavy weight of Hank Corduroy. - "What's up gals?"

"Hank, we are currently fighting boredom, and we're in desperate need of recruits," - Mabel said.

"You're talking to the right man, then," - he smiled. - "I can bring you two able-bodied seasoned boredom fighters, and I myself am not half-bad at this. Although, we need to move to some other place, unless you're OK with seeing the Shack in ruins."

"I like the spirit!" - Mabel cheered. - "Now, before we begin to assemble the crowd, what's on your mind?"

"I hope we hear something that does not involve hijacking and drunk driving," - Pacifica said in a low voice. Hank, however, heard.

"Hey, last time you said you liked it," - he retorted. Northwest looked away.

"Come on, be creative, guys!" - Mabel urged.

"Let's all get high," - Hank shrugged.

"Look, Summerween is in just five days," - Pacifica pointed out. - "We can just crash at my place and have a costume party-"

"Of course we will crash at your place and have a costume party that'll make the world envy us!" - Mabel promised. - "But why can't we have fun both before Summerween and during Summerween as well? And after Summerween. We can, and we will! And for that, we need ideas."

"How about a fair round of lasertag?" - Hank suggested.

"This isn't the most creative proposition I've ever heard," - Pacifica noted.

"I like your thinking, Hank!" - Pines approved. - "Ten points to the house Corduroy!"

"Yeah, and who's gonna play?" - he asked. - "Aside from you, me, Ms I-know-it-all-better, and my bros."

"Candy and Grenda," - Mabel started to recite, - "Your two brothers and one sister," - she looked around and saw Ramirez who entered gift shop just now, carrying an instrument box, - "and Soos."

"Sup dawg," - Soos affirmed.

"Hey Soos, wanna play lasertag with us at some time in the near future?"

"Sure," - the boy smiled. - "I love lasertag. Just let me know when you're at it."

"Cool. Wendy's playing with us, too."

"Oh, rad! And can we maybe call a couple of our friends?"

"You absolutely must! We need all the players we can get! Bring all men and women you can get, armed and armored! Gather every person able to hold a gun! We're marching to war!"

* * *

'And how exactly is this going to help me find out things about Mabel?' - Wendy thought, looking at the walls of Gravity Falls lasertag arena, colored in combination of acidic green and ultraviolet purple. She looked at the gathered teenagers. Robbie and Tambry were by her side, and Soos, too, while the older ones stood several feet away, planning the game. - 'Well, at least this might be fun,' - she sighed.

Meanwhile, the others were discussing game layout.

"Look, there's even an odd number of us, how are we supposed to break into teams?" - Hank asked agitatedly.

"Even an odd?" - Pacifica arhced an eyebrow.

"Not all of us can shoot, we should split into teams so that skill would be on the same level," - Rufus, Corduroy middle brother, said.

"I am naturally clumsy with weapons," - Candy cheerfully announced.

"And I prefer close quarters combat," - Grenda smiled.

"Guys, we're only getting started," - Mabel reasoned. - "There's a lot of games ahead, right? We can, for example, start by playing all-boy team versus all-girl team, to heat up."

"Ha!" - Sean cried out. - "We'll beat you before you know it! Even though you have one more player!"

"We'll talk again after you bite the dust five times in a row," - Pines promised.

"Make me!" - youngest Corduroy brother laughed mockingly, but he was stopped by his eldest siblings' heavy palm on his shoulder.

"Bro," - Hank's eye gleamed from behind his thick forelock. - "She can, and she will."

"Yeah, right, bring it on!" - Sean bragged. - "OK, let's do this 'boys vs girls' thing, I'd like to see how she handles playing against the Corduroy brothers!"

"You brought it upon yourself," - Hank sighed.

* * *

Three kills, no frags in the current game. In the first couple of matches she played below average - although not as miserably as Sean and Rufus who were stalked and killed by Mabel so many times they were almost driven nuts. The older teens, save for Candy, turned out to be experienced players. Then they mixed teams, played some more, and Wendy finally discovered one simple truth: running around and charging the opponent won't get her anywhere. Success came with laying in ambush patiently, waiting for the prey to come by. And patience was a thing Wendy Corduroy was good at.

Though music was roaring around her, at the last moment she heard the footsteps of an approaching victim. She gripped the gun and lowered her head to aim carefully. Her position behind the low wall gave her an upper hand of partially covering her and giving and the support to rest her gun on, which improved her aim. The girl slowly exhaled.

An opponent ran through the entrance to the small space she was in and immediately received a salvo of laser rays from Wendy's gun. At least one of them hit the sensor of the vest, and the figure immediately stopped.

"Shit!" - it was Robbie. - "Again! Who!" - he looked around and went closer to Wendy's hideout. - "You!"

"Hey, relax!" - Wendy reasoned. - "I killed you, go to your base."

"Dammit, why do you all keep killing me?!" - Valentino shouted.

"Because you suck at this game," - the girl explained. - "Now get lost, you're giving away my hideout." - the guy then walked away, swearing under his breath, leaving Wendy irritated - his behaviour almost ruined her mood to play. Luckily for her, in less than a minute Tambry ran by, and earning another kill cheered Corduroy up. Then her camping place was stormed by a combined force of Grenda, Hank and Pacifica, and she naturally had no chance, although she managed to take Pacifica down before Hank murdered her brutally, shooting a volley of laser in her chest from point-blank. Wendy had no choice but to trot joylessly to her team's base camp, where she reloaded her gun and vest, and was ready to get back into the fray.

This time she chose another camping point. Her strategy seemed to bear fruits - Tambry gave her another kill point in less than two minutes. Then Robbie ran by again, and she shot him. He saw Wendy and, turning to her, started shooting in response. This was not right - his gun was supposed to stop working once he was shot. But it didn't. The girl shot him again, seeing laser ray from her gun landing squarely on his vest's hit sensor. Robbie ran closer to her, jumping behind her cover, and shot her from the close range. She heard the beeping sound from her vest, and her gun ran dormant.

"Ha!" - the boy cheered. - "Nerd! I killed you!"

"Robbie, I killed you first!" - Wendy retorted, frowning. - "I shot you, like, three times!"

"No you didn't," - he laughed mockingly. - "You just suck at this game, now get out of here," - he ran away, brandishing his gun triumphantly. Wendy just stood in her place, with her brows twitching in anger.

"Cheating jerk," - the girl murmured. - "He must have done something with his vest. I need to tell the staff, they'll get him out of the game." - She went to the base decidedly. She was so occupied with her thought of bringing Robbie to justice it took her some time to realize that the corridors she was walking by looked unfamiliar. She learned the disposition of the arena rather well during previous games, and now she saw clearly that her surroundings didn't match the location she was supposed to be in. Puzzled, she walked further one of the corridors, and, when she entered another hall, Wendy stopped. In front of her, partially covered by clouds of smoke, a figure stood. It wasn't one of their company. The figure was tall, like Hank, and dressed distinctively, to say the least. On his chest, something that looked like futuristic and neat lasertag vest made of black plastic with glowing dark-red stripes was donned. The rest of his body was covered with armor of seemingly the same material and design, with red stripes running down the length of his hands and legs. A black cape with bands of glowing red dots hung from his shoulders. His face was hidden under an edgy black mask with one red glowing horizontal stripe in place of eyes. The mask looked aggressive and menacing.

The girl stood there, looking at the figure, not sure what she should do. The figure didn't take any actions, staying motionless. After several moments of silence, Wendy saw the others coming to the spot from the tunnels, first her team-mates, then members of the opposing team, and everyone who came to there and saw the glowing person stopped equally dumbfounded and looked at him in silence. In half a minute, everyone was gathered, except for Soos.

"Sup guys!" - Ramirez cried, appearing at last from one of the corridors. - "What are you doing, was the general meeting called for?" - he turned his head to the side, following other's gazes. - "Whoa!" - he exclaimed, obviously impressed by the mysterious person's appearance.

"Um, hello?" - Sean called the figure at last, waving his hand slightly. The person took a step towards them.

"I am Lasergod," - he announced with a deep and somewhat mechanized voice. - "A divinity of precise shots and teamwork, I am the almighty manifestation of tag games, and every lasertag arena is my domain."

"Lasertag God?" - Soos' eyes gleamed. - "Dude I was waiting for you my whole life!"

"Silence!" - the Divinity demanded.

"God of Lasertag?" - Pacifica raised an eyebrow. - "What in the world is this supposed to mean?"

"Yeah," - Candy added. - "This makes negative amount of sense."

"I am the summation of all emotions mankind felt while playing lasertag. Innumerable people who played lasertag have imprinted tiny parts of their consciences, left minuscule bits of their feelings in every game, be it small indoors matches or enormous event on polygons in the open air. Every tiny shred of thoughts, hopes and desperations experienced by players was absorbed by an abstract concept of Lasertag, and they melted together and merged to form Me, the embodiment of Lasertag that governs this play all over the world."

"I don't really get what you were saying, but I'm sure it's beyond cool," - Soos smiled.

"You mean everything that causes a lot of emotions creates a god-like being of its own?" - Candy frowned. - "Then there must be a bunch of gods everywhere around. Like, for example, a god of teenage romances."

"I am a god of teenage romances," - Mabel pointed out.

"Silence!" - the deity repeated. - "You are in my dominion, and I am wrathful. I accuse you of foul play. What say you in your defence?"

"This is one ridiculous joke, pal, if you wanted to play with us you should have just asked," - Hank frowned.

"Come on, guys, let's play one more round," - Sean suggested, heading to the exit. The man in a glowing suite shook his head.

"You do not understand," - he said. All the lights in the room faded. It turned on again after less then a second, but it was a completely different room. First, the room was larger at least ten-folds, and second, it looked magnificent. Clouds of smoke pierced by green, blue, red and violet rays concealed its actual size, and pillars of dark-grey material - granite, Wendy thought, or some other stone - were towering up to the ceiling, their tips lost in steamy clouds. By the walls and at the bases of pillars, weapon cases displaying all kinds of sci-fi guns and hand cannons were staged. Sets of armor suits were positioned beside them, some showing more retro-futuristic garbs, looking like steampunk pressure suits reinforced by metal stripes, others were made of modern materials like plastics, with pieces of different white and grey matter Wendy could not recognise and glowing stripes not unlike those on Lasergod's costume. Holographic projectors here and there showed space ships, tanks and attack vessels, mixed with menacing figures of aliens and extraterrestrial beasts.

"Huh?" - Pacifica was the first to give voice. - "Did we purchase some kind of VIP arena?" - It didn't take the other teens and pre-teens long to express their surprise in one or another way. - "Guys this is crazy!" - Pacifica's voice finally prevailed again. - "Do you think what that... person was talking about can be true? That he really is some sort of... a god? And he somehow transported us to this place?"

"I don't know about the whole 'god' thing," - Candy Chew spoke up, - "but one second we were in a lasertag centre, and the next we were in some place that clearly isn't a lasertag centre. So unless this is all a mass hallucination, which is unlikely, this is something I've never seen before, which, considering that I live in Gravity Falls and associate with Mabel frequently, does say a lot."

"Folks, I'm more concerned about how go get out of here," - Hank rubbed the back of his neck. "And that glowing dude. Are we gonna be forced to fight each other to death, and the last one standing will return home?"

A laughter came from the side. The juveniles looked to the source of sound. It was the same man they faced before, dressed in a futuristic armor with glowing stripes and flashlights all around. He was standing on a large pedestal further in the hall.

"You don't need to worry that much," - he said, slowly coming closer. - "I am not a bloodthirsty mindless killer of the younglings. No one of you will die, and you all will come home. However, not before you manage to amuse me."

"Oh, I know something amusing, lemme show!" - Hank cried, running to the shining man, raising his fist to punch him, aiming at the masked face. But a second later dark-red light flashed, and Corduroy flew back, landing right before Wendy's feet. He groped his jaw with a hiss of pain.

"On the other hand, to those of you who desperately need to die I won't raise any difficulties," - Lasergod laughed again.

"Bro, you OK?" - Rufus cried.

"Yeah," - Hank responded.

"Alright, alright," - Mabel said appeasably, helping him to get on his feet. - "How about you tell us, what exactly do you want?"

"I want you to defeat whatever opponents I throw at you," - he explained. - "You have a selection of combat equipment from the armory. Then you will form a team that has to make its way through a war zone of your choice, fighting off enemies and traps. If at least one of you makes it to the other side, all of you will return to your world. If all of you are defeated on your way through the war zone, you start again from this lobby."

"Thank goodness, I thought you're going to say that if we are defeated, we all die," - Soos exhaled.

"Nay, I am no murderer of children," - the Lasergod reproached. - "This punishment you will come to like."

"Punishment? For what?" - Candy asked.

"For cheating and foul play," - the man pointed an accusing finger at Robbie. The boy seemed to shrink at his blame. - "He twisted the wires inside his vest to prevent it from receiving the signals of hits from other players' guns."

"Robbie, is that true?" - Wendy asked in shock. The crowd started to rumble.

"I- uh- I mean-" - the boy stammered. Hank took a step towards him.

"What's your name again? Robbie?" - the younger teenager only nodded in response.

"Robbie V." - he squeaked before Hank grabbed him by the collar.

"OK. Robbie V. You're dead." - Corduroy raised his fist to crush poor boy's face, but Mabel stopped him.

"Henry," - her voice was slightly accusing. Wendy was somewhat surprised to see Hank actually letting go of Robbie's shirt and turning away. Mabel didn't say anything else.

"You, there, whatever-god, why should we take the rap for this shithead?" - Rufus cried. - "I don't even know him!"

"You agreed to play with him," - the entity explained. - "You associated yourselves with him. You bear collective responsibility."

"I never agreed to anything," - the guy resented. - "If I knew he would do anything like this I'd just have kicked his ass and throw him out of the game before we even started."

"This is not how the rules of lasertag are," - the god said. - "You are a team now, whether you like it not. Only as a team you can emerge victorious out of this. Come to terms with this, and explore the lobby hall," - he waved his hands around. - "Here you will find everything you need for the upcoming games. When you are ready, step on the pedestal. Show me that you can be honest players," - he turned around, his cloak flying over his back, and went away towards the said pedestal. Thick mist concealed his figure, and when it dispersed, he was nowhere to be found.

* * *

"So, how do we get out of here?" - Pacifica asked, looking at each of the elder teenagers in turn. Grenda shrugged, Candy readjusted her glasses, Hank and Mabel exchanged looks.

"Well, Lasergod gave us a pretty clear instruction how to get home," - Candy said.

"And I don't really see why not play another match with better guns," - Hank added.

"And it's not like the guy who can just teleport us to some lasertag dimension," - Grenda pointed. - "would, I don't know, leave a fire exit somewhere around here in case we'd want to leave early. So I say, lets go shoot some aliens, robots, or bad guys in general!" - she cried agitatedly.

"Wait a minute, guys," - Wendy finally realized that she had enough of this, - "What the hell! Look, we were captured by a guy who claims to be a god of lasertag, and transported to some kind of arena where we supposedly would have to fight for our lives, and that looks like decorations for some cheesy sci-fi movie! And you, all of you act like nothing happened, like we're switching teams for the next round of lasertag. Aren't you supposed to, like, be surprised or amazed or freaked out about this?"

The rest of the teenagers exchanged glances.

"Not really," - Mabel admitted.

"Seen crazier shit," - Hank shrugged.

"Dawg, I think it's cool, actually," - Soos said.

"I am totally freaked out," - admitted Tambry, although her face was calm.

"This is not real," - Robbie exhaled. - "This can't be. It's impossible."

"We're in Gravity Falls, punk," - the eldest Corduroy hemmed. - "Being impossible is not a reason for something not to happen here. So get your shit together and be ready to run and shoot."

"Hank," - Mabel said with mild accusation in her voice. She than came closer to the younger teenagers. She leaned forward somewhat so that her face would be on their level, although Wendy was almost as tall as she was. - "Guys, I understand that all this may be too much for you," - she began in an assuasive tone - "and if you need more time for this to get settled, then take your time. But I'm afraid there's no way around that - we're really trapped in some Lasertag World, and we would really have to play a high-stake lasertag match if we want to go back home. So think about it this way: we came here to play lasertag, and now we just have to win an extra long and somewhat unusual game."

"Mabel, I'm good," - Wendy said sternly. - "I'll play. Don't worry about me. It's just- I don't get it, why are you so calm?"

"What other choices do I have?" - Pines shrugged. In her eyes Wendy saw complete security. Mabel wasn't scared, Mabel wasn't stressed or unnerved. Mabel was prepared.

The older girl straightened her back again, and slightly nodded to Wendy, showing her acknowledgement. Then she turned to the rest of the teenagers:

"OK, party people, now let's talk business."

"What's there to talk?" - Rufus interrupted her.

"Business," - Mabel repeated undisterbedly. - "My point is - lasertag is called a team play for a reason. We are a team now, and we have to act like a team, act together. We are all brothers and sisters in arms. And a team needs its leader."

"And you're gonna say that you are the leader?" - Sean asked sceptically.

"Well, in fact I had three candidacies in mind," - she responded. - "Candy, she has smarts and thinks fast; Hank, he is a veteran lasertag player, also he's used to brawls and fist-fights, so he has experience. And, finally, me, yes. By now you should know that I can shoot better than you, at the very least. Besides, everyone loves me, which minimizes the chances of mutiny and raises the morale."

"Yeah, right!" - the younger Coruroy brother waved his hand.

"I think I am another good candidate," - Pacifica added jauntily, - "because I'm used to push people around and give orders."

"If we're going to vote for leaders," - Hank said, ignoring them both, - "I'd vote for Mabel ten times out of ten."

"Me, too," - Candy nodded. - "She's clearly a far better leader than me."

Grenda and Pacifica raised their hands as well, accepting Mabel's leadership. Then Soos followed suit, and, not after long, Wendy did, too. It settled the question.

* * *

Mabel's first priority was finding any available information on this version of lasertag. As Candy found out, the main console beside the pedestal where the Lasergod appeared had text files that explained that each of the player exchanges their lasertag gun and sensor vest for an actual laser weapon and a suit of armor before they are teleported to the game zone. This is where peculiarities started - each player could choose a different class, or a combat role, which grants a different weapon, armor and a set of skills. Candy then dove into details of the game, giving the rest of the crew time to wander around aimlessly and talk.

"Man I can't wait for the game to start!" - Soos confessed, making Wendy roll her eyes. Everyone beside her seemed to take what was happening around for granted.

"It's all my fault," - Robbie mumbled in a state of utter depression. - "Now everyone hates me."

"Relax, everyone hated you even before that," - Wendy murmured under her breath. Mild commotion among the elder teenagers took their attention.

"So, guys, I have a basic conception of what to do next and how to play," - Candy announced, - "So, as we've already figured out, each of us has to choose a combat role. Well, here's about combat roles. So far we have five of them. The first is a general-purpose combatant. Has a medium-level protection, is armed with a versatile assault rifle and a pistol. Is able to implement a wide range of weapons - sniper lasers, heavy laser cannons, shotguns, et cetera. Seems like a solid choice. After we distribute other roles, I suggest remaining players are assigned as general-purpose fighters.

"Next, a medic. This is indispensable. Aside from obvious task of mending wounds, medic has a stock of combat drugs that can enhance some combat capabilities such as speed, strength and pain threshold," - Candy lowered her glasses and looked at the crowd. - "It seems to me I am the most well suited for this role, since it does not require sharp shooting or rough action, but takes a lot of patience, and maybe knowledge of biology, human anatomy and physiology and medicine can come in handy, and I have all of the above," - she heard no objections.

"Next, an engineer. Likewise, lightly armored and armed, but can fix and, given the supply materials, enhance combat gears of other fighters, can operate turrets and defensive systems across the battlefield, is responsible for energy systems recharge. Soos?"

"Dude I was training for this my whole life," - Soos said ardently, with tears in his eyes.

"OK. There also is a somewhat specific role of breacher. The breacher is equipped with a boarding shield and a short-range laser shotgun, as well as a heavy armor set. Short-range combatant, unable to deal much damage due to a shotgun's slow rate of fire. However, can withstand a lot of punishment. As for me, breacher's role is rather obvious. Grenda, will you?-"

"All hail Lasergod for giving me this," - the portly girl shouted, raising her fists excitedly.

"Um, OK. Next role is a complete reverse - a scout. Again, operates only in light armor, but can handle more complex weapons. The most distinctive feature - a holographic camouflaging cloak. Simply put, it can make a scout nearly invisible for a short time. Needless to say, scout is an extremely useful specialist. Scouting, as the name suggests, reconnaissance, sabotage and ambush tactics, assassination of enemy snipers and other specialists - this is a short list of scout's potential tasks. Now, since we have three younger fighters, after Soos has already chosen a combat role," - Candy pointed at the twelve years-olds, - "I'm not sure who exactly do we have to choose as a scout?"

"Wendy!" - Rufus and Sean shouted almost immediately.

"Yeah, what's there to think about?" - Hank said. - "She's an ideal scout. Dad always makes us compete in lumberjack games, and when it comes to speed, she always wins. Running, climbing, jumping, crawling through the hollow logs - you name it, Wendy can do it. Plus, she's relatively small and can be sneaky. Can you, sis?" - he punched her shoulder slightly.

"Yeah, I can," - the girl said reluctantly. Hearing Hank speaking highly of her was unusual, and she was confused.

"Also, there is a debatable role of a signaller. Their duty it to maintain radio contact within the group, locate enemies through radars, at the same time sabotaging their communications and detection means. I don't know if we have enough bodies to spare a player for this role, and if we need it at all."

"Sounds like some useless smartass shit to me, let's pass," - Hank said. Mabel nodded, and the others showed agreement in one form or another.

"Well, that's about it," - Candy shrugged.

"Thank you," - Mabel touched her shoulder. - "Now, what do we have? Soos is an engineer, Grenda is a breacher, Wendy is a scout. Candy herself is medic. We decided to omit the signaller, so everyone left just take a general soldier role. Any objections?" - there were none. Corduroy brothers, Soos and Grenda were actually waiting to begin, Candy, Tambry and Pacifica had 'whatever' faces on them, Robbie was anxious. Wendy tried to be serious and dedicated, to treat this all as her way home, but she knew that deep inside her an excitement of an upcoming great game was rising. - "So, let's get this party started! Suit up, people."

* * *

As Candy instructed them, to actually choose a combat role and receive equipment, the players had to place their lasertag gear on the panels of their respective weapon stands. As Wendy put first her vest on the centre of the board, she felt tingling sensation in all her body, raising up from her feet. She looked down to see her body being slowly covered by some unknown material. It was like the suit of armor was synthesising on her body. When it was finished, she was dressed in dark-blue coveralls, with a breastplate and hard hat made of rigid materials, slightly darker in coloration. On her left wrist she found a small panel, like a touch pad. She pressed her finger to it, and her whole suit darkened and turned more greyish in color, adjusting to the surroundings. It was a simple form of mimicry, and Wendy wondered if it was effective in any way, but it was certainly better than nothing.

She looked around. Candy was dressed in a suit similar to her own, Soos' coverall had a tactical rigging with a number of pockets. The other players were in the coveralls as well, but they had protective elbow and knee pads and forearm and shin guards, and their helmets were larger and covered nape and sides of the head as well. Grenda stood apart, her gear also included pauldrons, breastplate covered her belly as well as chest and had flaps that protected her tights. The most distinctive part of equipment, of course, was a shield, almost in full human height, that she wielded with contemptuous ease.

Wendy returned her attention back to the console. Placing lasertag gun on it, she watched it slowly dissipate into thin air. Then above the board, a hologram of her new weapon was floating, rotating in an unhurried manner, and it was filling with material - the weapon was synthesised in front of her eyes, like the armor was previously. In some five seconds it was done, and she reached for the gun, taking it in her arms and inspecting. It wasn't large, and it fit her hands and height perfectly - she tried to take aim on one of the furthest sets of armor in the hall and found that moving around with the laser gun was almost natural for her. The girl smiled furtively. With every passing second she liked the idea of upcoming game more and more.

* * *

"We are provided with with a choice of four arenas," - Candy was giving the final explanations as all the players finished equipping, - "a space station, jungle, Arctic and alien laboratory. Each of them has its own specifics, naturally. Lower gravity on the space station, snow and ice on the Arctic arena - it is written here that the cold would not bother us anyway, - jungle has a lot of cover and specific types of soil - no idea what does soil have to do with all this, - and laboratory has a wider range of special equipment that we can use in one way or another. But it isn't specified, what is this equipment exactly. And finally, the description says that each arena has a number of surprise features. Personally I have a bad feeling about this"

"Yeah," - Hank nodded. - "I wouldn't expect free beer or shiatsu massage."

"So, let's decide on the arena and get this over with," - Pacifica said. - "If we have to vote, I'd go for the jungle. It seems the most friendly version."

"Maybe we'll let our captain speak first?" - the eldest Corduroy frowned. Pacifica scowled at him.

"I'm with Paci on this on," - Mabel smiled. - "Maybe we'll see cute monkeys in there? Hank, your call?"

"Jungle be it," - he shrugged. After that, Sean and Rufus voted for the jungle right away, Candy and Grenda supported Mabel, what made further voting useless. The teenagers gathered around the pedestal before stepping onwards. As her vision faded to a field of shimmering colors, and the sounds muted, Wendy, sensing a tight knot in her gut and tingling in her fingertips, wondered if this was what people feel when jumping with a parachute for the first time.

* * *

 **This is chapter 3, or at least the first part of it. Hope you enjoyed it. Reviews are appreciated, as always.**

 **Stay weird**


	5. Laser Cannon Death Sentence II

Sunlight dazzled Wendy for a moment. She blinked rapidly, rubbing her eyes, and even when she regained her sight, she couldn't figure out what she was seeing at first. Three colours dominated the surroundings - green, blue and brown. The sky above them was blue, with a blazing sun right above their heads. The soil under their feet was brown, lumpy and damp. Everything in between was green. The colours were flashy, almost unnatural, the contours were sharp, the sounds of singing birds, screeching insects and leaves waving in the wind startled her, and a bouquet of smells, from exotic aromas of tropical flowers to the mawkish stench of decaying leaves, struck her nose.

Around her, other teenagers were making all sorts of exclamations about their surroundings, expressing their astonishment and awe.

"Holy hell!" - Sean shouted.

"The graphics is remarkable," - Candy stated.

"Everything seems so- unrealistic," - Pacifica said, looking around. - "The colours are too vivid."

"No shit," - Hank laughed. - "We're inside a game, genius!"

"Add some glitter, stickers, Mabel juice and talking stuffed animals, and that's basically how I imagined heavens," - Mabel said.

"If we're inside the game, dawg," - Soos said thoughtfully, - "it must be one of those JRPG."

"OK, but now that we're here, what are we supposed to do?" - Pacifica inquired.

"Find bad guys and bash their faces in," - Grenda explained.

Looking around more concertedly, the teens saw they were actually standing on a forest clearing, with one earth road leading out of it. That made the choice of direction pretty obvious. Although Hank and Candy wanted to explore the forest, urged by Mabel the group moved down the road, chatting on their way.

It was hot and humid, but somehow not uncomfortable in the suits. Although the sun was too bright, the world around them was cheerful. They saw colorful and pied birds in the sky and in the crowns of trees, and once a large snake was seen escaping to the forest thicket from the roadside. Before long the team came to a hilltop from where, in the distance, they saw a small camp - two buildings with dark-grey walls and roofs and two army tents. On the camp entrance, on both sides of the road sandbags were piled, providing low cover for shooters. Several men were visible, dressed from head to toe in dark-grey uniform with vests that vaguely resembled those from common lasertag and round helmets on their heads that covered their faces. Each of them was holding a weapon - a laser gun not unlike those the players were bearing. Four men were holding position behind the sandbag walls, few more were slouching about aimlessly. A gigantic white number '0' was drawn on the closest building's wall.

"So, this is how we start?" - Hank inquired.

"What's with the zero?" - Sean asked.

"Tutorial?" - Candy suggested.

"Let's crumple them, what are we waiting for?" - Grenda said.

"Aren't we supposed to try out some tactics?" - Pacifica wondered.

"This hot chick here has a point," - Mabel said, nudging Northwest slightly with her elbow. - "Now, Wendy, would you please be so kind to come closer to that encampment and do a tiny bit of scouting?"

Suddenly, everything was serious. Wendy looked around. Ten pairs of eyes watched her expectantly. She had to go alone to watch the enemy from close range. She can get caught or shot. The girl closed her eyes. Hesitating? Objecting?

"Wait here," - she said, turning towards the camp and turning her camouflage on.

This was new. Earlier that day, before the affair with Lasergod, she didn't have any problems camping alone, but now going to the enemy camp all on her own was frightening. And exciting. She didn't use the road, going to the side instead. Tall undergrowth helped her come as close as roughly one hundred feet to the buildings, but then the ground was cleared of plants, and she had to lay down and crawl forward. Her coveralls really did meld with the surroundings, and enemy soldiers didn't seem to pay her any attention.

What was scout supposed to do? Not having any obvious objectives, the girl started to count the soldiers wandering around the base - there were eight of them mucking about. She let Mabel know through the radio, but then she figured out her team mates could have learned it themselves, just observing the camp from afar. Intending to do her work thoroughly, the girl took a sneak peek into each of the houses, and found out that there were four bots seating on the bunks, they were like on the waiting mode. It was a valuable info, and Wendy immediately informed Mabel. However, there still were two tents, and their content remained a mystery.

Lying in the shadows beside the tent with her camouflage on, she watched as another bot passed nearby. As much as she thought her suit's stealth system sucked, it actually did its job at making her discreet. At least while no one was looking straight at her. She rose on all four and, making sure no bot was looking her way, quickly sneaked to the entrance a took a peek inside. There were four more bots, sitting on metal mesh beds, holding laser guns between their knees. A sight of humanoid figures, immobile in the dimly lit by a single kerosene lamp tent with their full equipment on made her shudder slightly. She hurried back to the cover of shadows, fearing to be noticed. It was frightening, she thought, but at the same time exciting.

"Mabel," - she said into her radio's microphone, not before moving further from the center of the camp, so she wouldn't be heard by the bots. - "There're four o'em in one tent, haven't yet checked the other-"

"Wendy, don't," - she heard through the earpiece - "four bots in each building, four in one tent - I'm seeing a pattern here. OK, we're getting ready to strike. Find a place to hide and wait for us. Or leave the camp if you want-"

"No, I'll be here," - Wendy promised. - "Mabes, there's something like a stationary laser machine gun in the front-"

"So we're not going through the front," - Pines reassured her. - "We'll move to the side in the undergrowth, like you did, and then strike. Wait for my signal."

Wendy shrugged to herself. That was not much more she could do, so she did what Mabel said. Hiding behind one of the tents wasn't difficult, but then she had to wait for quite some time.

"We're going in," - Mabel's voice announced in her earpiece.

Several laser rays shot from the side of the camp, a couple of them hitting one of the bots. It fell down to the ground, and the dead body just dissipated in a couple of seconds. The camp came in violent motion. The bots ran out from the constructions and headed to the general direction of the attack. Wendy saw her teammates emerging from the thick bushes and tall grass, moving to the camp in two large groups. In one group, Grenda was in the front, covering herself with her large shield, Mabel and Pacifica shooting from behind her, Soos and Tambry were visible in there too. In the other group, Hank was in the front, naturally, shooting on the run, followed by his brothers and Candy, and Robbie trailed behind ruefully. As soon as they reached the closest building, they took cover, shooting from behind the corners and crates arranged by the walls. Bots did the same on the other side, and an energetic laserfight began. But from the position they took, the bots were open to Wendy's fire, and the girl decided not to waste the opportunity.

Aiming her weapon, she pulled the trigger, shooting a discharge of laser rays at one of the bots. It fell down, but stood up just as quickly. And it turned to Wendy's side together with three other bots.

The girl crouched again, but not fast enough. Laser ray hit her shoulder, and she gripped the wound with the other hand, ready to fall down and cry in pain. But in a couple of seconds she realized it didn't hurt, it stung, but stung a lot. She sat straight behind her cover, making herself ready to strike again.

But before she did, Mabel, Grenda and Pacifica used what little distraction Wendy provided and moved to the other corner of the building they were hiding behind, flanking the enemies and making short work of decimating them, then Hank and brothers took the opportunity to finish the rest of the bots. When the last of them were dealt with, Wendy approached the team.

Rufus was wounded on his leg, and Robbie took a laser ray to the shoulder. Candy was poking them with a sort of syringe attached to her right forearm, with some colorful mixtures pouring into it through a number of tubes that connected it to her large backpack. Apparently, it helped. Wendy came closer.

"Sis, how's it going?" - Sean inquired, seeing her.

"I was hit, too," - she explained, pointing at her shoulder.

"Don't worry, step in the queue," - Candy Chew smiled, injecting Rufus once again.

"Terrorists win," - Mabel announced. She was dancing around waving her laser gun like a baton despite the mark one stray laser ray left on her left elbow. Candy approached her and stuck a syringe into her hand. - "I never asked for this," - Mabel retorted, taking her hand away. "Doctor, are you sure this will work?" - She asked. While Candy was thinking on the answer, Mabel said: "I should go," - and moved away.

"Mabes," - Hank called.

"To where?" - Pacifica asked.

"There should be loot around," - Mabel explained. - "It might get in handy. Let's take a look."

* * *

In less then five minutes they were done. Wendy, still scratching from time to time her mended 'wound' that now was tingling, inspected her renovated machine laser pistol, with enhanced energy output. It was found in the gun storage in one of the building. Her uniform now had a more capacious accumulator that allowed for a longer active camouflage usage and a more sophisticated virtual intelligence that made mimicry more effective. It turned out Soos could make basic field upgrades and repairs to their gear provided he had supplies and a robotic workbench that were, likewise, found inside the camp. Other players had at least some upgrades made to their equipment, or totally brand new weapons and gadgets, as well. They were all excited and optimistic, emboldened by their easy victory at stage zero and ready to take on whatever the game had to throw at them. Or so they thought.

The first thing they noticed was that the walk to the next stage took considerably longer. Windy road led them downhill, and the soil was slippery. Frequent turns conditioned low visibility, and they almost ran into the stage #1, barely noticing it in the last moment before the bots noticed them. The team backed away, out of sight, and ping of guilt stung Wendy - she was supposed to scout ahead, to be the eyes and ears for the players, but their general relaxed state engulfed her too.

"Let's go in for the kill!" - Hank suggested.

"Smash!" - Grenda approved.

"But tactical play-" - Pacifica started, and Candy nodded in affirmation.

"Come on!" - the eldest Corduroy said. - "I bet ya we can really make it through the whole game just pressing forward."

"What if we can't?"

"You can't tell 'till we give it a try."

Everyone paused and looked at Mabel. She wrinkled her nose, what actually looked very cute.

"I guess I'm with Hank on this on," - she said. - "We've tested the team play - it worked. Let's find out about the head-on play. We have more than one try, remember? To my side, my faithful gropagas!" - she marched towards the camp. The other group made a small commotion following her, with various degree of willingness.

"Mabel," - Wendy asked, slightly perplexed. - "What am I supposed to do, then?"

"You just flank them and shoot whenever you feel it's not too dangerous for you," - the answer was. - "Don't worry, Wendy, it's going to be alright." - Corduroy shook her head slightly, unsure if her elder friend was right this time. Nevertheless, she jumped to the heavy undergrowth at the side of the road and sneaked her way towards the camp. She noticed that the plants did not hinder her as much as natural vegetations this thick should have, and moved further, but then she heard cries and sound of shooting laser guns from the road. Wendy hurried towards the camp.

"Somebody shoot him down!" - Hank's voice called in the headphones.

"Behind the shield, guys, quick!" - it was Mabel. When Wendy, activating her camouflage, finally sprung out of the bushes and ferns she saw that only five players were left in the party beside herself - Grenda, Hank, Pacifica, Mabel and Soos. And where were the others? They were not around, and Wendy didn't see them laying anywhere on the road. They were shot and dissipated, like bots!

The remaining players were crowding behind Grenda's tower shield and barely holding their ground under the pressure from more than a dozen bots that were shooting a volley of laser rays at them from behind the sandbag walls. Primitive as this cover was, it still provided proper protection. Wendy was flanking the bots, but what could she, one player, do? She smothered the thought and fired at the bots.

She killed one, and five or six turned to face her. The girl quickly dove into the undergrowth, laser rays burning leaves above her head. But apparently it gave the other players enough time to press forward somewhat, beating the bots out of their shelter behind sandbag wall and, in turn, tried to it for their own cover against the approaching enemy reinforcement.

"Good work, Wenwen," - Wendy heard Mabel's voice in the headphones. She realized that shooting at her has ceased and quickly stood up, but just as she did that, several bots appeared in front of her from behind the foliage - the enemy has sent their own party to outflank the players.

"Mabel, here!" - she managed to cry a second before a laser ray contacted her body between the collar bones. Everything went dark and silent.

A moment later she was in the lobby. With heavy panting, she instinctively reached to her chest and touched the spot where the laser hit her. It was undamaged, and only a pale reminder of the stinging she initially felt was lingering. Letting out a sigh of relief, she looked around. Robbie, Sean and Rufus, Candy, Grenda and Tambry were in the hall too, and they gathered around a giant screen that showed the warzone and progress of remaining players - Soos, Hank, Pacifica and Mabel. But in fact, their situation hardly could be called 'progress' - the four of them were pinned behind crates on the border of the camp and were firing back the best they could, which was clearly not enough. The bots were circling on them. For some time they were holding their grounds, but then a specially trained bots threw a grenade at their position, forcing them to move out of cover, and they were an easy target for their enemies. One by one the older teens appeared in the lobby.

"So, in the end it didn't work, I suppose," - Mabel srugged, looking around.

"Wasn't even supposed to," - Pacifica murmured.

"Gimme a break!" - Hank roared. - "I gust suggested it, right? If it turned out it works we'd be back home in no time."

"But it doesn't work," - Northwest responded.

"Yeah, you know it all better," - Hank waved his hand.

"Guys, guys!" - Mabel raised her voice. - "We found out that we should work together to beat the game. Let's do just that."

"So, Mabes," - Grenda asked, - "we try again?"

"Naturally," - Pines danced to the teleporting pedestal. - "Let's go again, folks. I feel like we're gonna get lucky," - part of Wendy's brains thought that Mabel should have picked that line from her great uncle, an avid conman. And they had just as much luck as hapless players the cardsharper lured into playing one more round.

* * *

As they progressed through war zones in their increasingly more fruitful, but still ultimately futile attempts, they discovered each war zone indeed had an unimaginable number of surprises which could be hardly called pleasant. The jungles was teeming with carnivorous animals and plants that were powerful enough to pose a danger to an armoured and armed player. The further they advanced in this war zone, the more slippery and unsteady the ground became, in time turning into a semiliquid suspension that worked like some sort of quicksand. They had to move either through the undergrowth and foliage so dense it render a player completely immobile, clinging to feet torso, or climb on thick branches and lianas, balancing on wet and slippery molds and mosses, sometimes dodging enemy fire at the same time. At the tier four stage, a tropical downpour started, reducing visibility and hearing nearly to zero.

Arctic war zone was another thing. Low temperatures really did not pose a problem to the players, but under their feet was either a slippery ice or waist-deep snow that slowed them down significantly. Ice hummocks alternated with fields of thin ice that threatened to break every time elder teenagers stepped on it. Each time they made it past the third control point, a massive snowstorm started that almost blocked their vision, with gusts of wind so strong they even forced them to stop in their tracks, and Wendy, Tambry and Robbie even had to take steps back.

The space station was by no means more forgiving arena. First two stages really had lower gravity, which especially helped Wendy and Rufus proceed since they did a lot of climbing and jumping while getting on position. Then there was a stage with no gravity at all, and it took quite a lot of effort getting used to, and in the end nobody of them save for Mabel and Hank actually grasped the aspect of zero gravity combat. One time they lost because poorly aimed rocket launched by Mabel breached the sheathing of the station, and they experienced a softened variant of death through decompression. When Wendy later came to in the lobby, sweaty and grasping for air, she thought how much worse it was supposed to be in the real world. Furthermore, the space station was guarded by all sorts of robots and traps that somehow preferred the players to the bots, and pipes or containers with flammable liquids or gases were practically ubiquitous. When they reached the fourth stage, something from the outside started firing rockets and torpedoes at the station. It shook violently, half of the explosions threatened the players with volleys of shrapnel or at least distracted them from the enemy. On the fifth stage, the station started to fall apart. Dodging salvoes of laser rays, clots of plasma, rockets and electrocuting arcs, jumping from the walls to the ceiling of corridors and halls, they desperately pressed on to the hangar, where a shuttle was awaiting them - the final destination of the whole war zone. They did not make it.

The alien laboratory was, perhaps, the weirdest one among the zones. First of all, it had a much greater amount of contraptions Soos could use to enhance the weapons and armour in one way or another. The main thing about the laboratory, however, was what those mythical aliens studied in there. Through five levels of the war zone, the teenagers encountered automatons of all sorts, hostile cyborgs with different levels of mechanical augmentations, extraterrestrial beasts, most of which were aggressive and dangerous, and lab equipment that acted more like traps and obstructions, was this intentional or not.

They made a large amount of tries, with different composition of the team, with different strategies on the battlefield, and they definitely were getting better at this - but still not good enough. And it wasn't hard to notice how the team was losing heart. Robbie was the first one, of course. He wasn't useful to begin with, but not after long he started to perform even worse. Tambry and Candy soon followed suit. When Sean despaired, Rufus lost hope, too, then Grenda and Soos. Wendy felt that she was having doubts, too, and she saw that Hank and Pacifica hesitated as well. The only one to stay sharp was Mabel. If not for her, at some point the team might have succumbed to frustration, but Wendy couldn't help but compare Pines girl to a shining beacon that directed all of them and kept them going. From time to time, she started to wonder who Mabel really is.

* * *

"So, make your bets, what comes after us this time to make this a real tier five mission?" - Mabel asked nonchalantly, as they marched in general direction of their final goal. Team leader was distinguished by her loadout. Combat exoskeleton worn over her 'Lancelot' armour was covered by protective shield plating, made her look at least thirty percent larger than she actually was. She gripped an assault rifle of unique design in her hands, while a rocket launcher was secured between her shoulder blades, and a smart anti-air missile system 'Fowler', folded, rested on the lower part of her back.

"The readings and signal interception say, there are not too much ground forces there," - Tambry said, pointing at the gathering of glowing dots on the holographic map of the war zone. A net of wires connected her holo-projector to a manifold of small radars, detectors and antennas established on her shoulders and on the backpack she was wielding. Her tactical vest had a great number of pockets that stored all sorts of jammers, bugs, narrow-angle microphones and other equipment that was signaller's bread and butter.

"Maybe they are all giant walking robots with rockets?" - Soos suggested. A vest he was wearing did little to protect him from enemy fire, but was ripe with pouches and small bags that, as well as his kit belt, contained a vast variety of instruments starting from soldering iron to electronic lockpick. Another set of retractable tools was mounted on his wrists, and his hands, clad in fractald digits-supplied gloves, gripped a blowtorch powerful enough to be used as a weapon from a short ranged. A small pistol in a holster on his hip was hardly even remembered.

"Nah, I'd say they have several turrets and super-dooper-advanced sensors, so Wendy wouldn't be able to get close to them," - Candy said, lowering a portable med-chem station, compact enough that it fitted on her left forearm. Her light armour set was supplemented with a complex system of tubes and capillaries that contained quite a number of medicaments and drugs, ready to be injected into a players body through a needle no thicker than mosquito's nose. Candy's helmet was overly large, since it housed an advanced interface that monitored every squad mate's physical condition and prescribed the best course of healing in case any of them got hurt during a fight. Her only armament was a light submachine laser gun, and Wendy couldn't even remember seeing her use it.

"They'll never know what hit them," - Pacifica commented, regulating the settings of her high-yield ultraviolet 'William Tell' sniper laser's optical sight. 'Lancelot' armour she was wearing, deceptively thin, attenuated her slender figure. A heavily customised assault laser carbine for mid-range combat rested on the small of her back, and an automatic handgun with enhanced energy output was holstered on her right tight. - "And I'm more worried about mines, those are easy to hide in the snow."

"Don't be wusses, ya'll," - Rufus added. - "We have great chances now, seven players at final stage," - He tapped the side of his visor goggles, readjusting the tactical display to the surroundings. His automatic laser rifle had a barrel-attached grenade launcher; two holsters, one on each tight, housed submachine laser handguns, and a 'Phoenix' flamer was hanging on his back. Shielding flaps that covered his 'Maximilian' armour made him look rather bulky. A belt on his waist was heavy with bags containing grenades and reserve accumulators for rifles.

"Meanwhile, I have visual," - Hank said. His Perseus-pattern tower shield was formed of white polymeric material. Its main advantage was the ability to reflect a moderate amount of energy from its surface. In other words, the first several laser rays fired at the shield after its cooldown period were reflected back in shooter's direction. The guy was clad in so-called Rhino-pattern heavy personal defence armament. That had a portable power generator attached at its back, which allowed to temporarily raise a protective power field that could cover several players at once. His plasma arc projector, a devastating close range weapon, he tossed on his shoulder.

"What? I can't see anything," - Candy replied.

"Easy for you to say, maypole," - Pines laughed, nudging Corduroy with her elbow. - "From up there you must see the Jungle arena."

"So, what's it like?" - Soos asked.

"Hey, I can't make out the details," - the elder guy shrugged. - "I can only see some kind of buildings in the distance."

"What's that, by the way?" - Pacifica asked, pointing out with her hand. Following the gesture, Wendy saw a dot on the horizon rising above the endless field of ice. She couldn't pick out in details what it was, but she had a very special premonition. - "Yep, an aircraft," - Pacifica, who looked through her magnifying targeter, said just a second later, confirming Wendy's fears. And as if she needed any more confirmation, in just several seconds a salvo of laser rays pierced the ice around them.

"Fuck!" - Hank roared, rising his shield. He activated the force field, and a semi-transparent cupola covered the area around him. - "To me, quick!" - he shouted, and the others rushed to his side. Fire density, however, was too high - even though they had to make less then ten steps, Tambry, running along Wendy, was struck by several rays of powerful laser, and her body was tossed in the air. It disappeared before hitting the ground.

"Can we do anything, guys, please?" - Candy pleaded, seeking refuge behind Hank. A hail of rays hit the shield's surface, and elder Corduroy was forced a step back despite his powerful stance and force field's protection.

"Lemme-" - Pacifica raised her sniper laser, but taking aim at the aircraft that was performing avoidance manoeuvres was nigh impossible. Mabel, meanwhile, stepped forward, retrieving 'Fowler' from her back.

"I knew this thing was laying around on purpose!" - she cried, taking aim. She pressed the trigger, and five missiles escaped the barrel in quick succession and flew towards the vehicle. Its laser turrets switched from ground targets to the incoming projectiles, and three rockets were dispersed before they could reach the enemy. However, the remaining two landed. Two flowers of explosions bloomed on the flyer's face, and it, tilting to the side, went towards the ice, its speed gradually rising.

"That's all?" - Hank asked mistrustfully. - "Done already?" - the whipped flyer touched the ice sheet some three thousand feet away from them, and a second later they felt the footing shaking from the impact.

"I have a bad-" - Pacifica started, when they saw a gigantic geyser erupting from the ice surface at the point where the flyer fell. For a couple of seconds they were silent, and then another explosion, greater and brighter then the previous ones, marked the place of crash. Three seconds later, distant 'Bang!' reached their ears. And the geyser was rapidly moving towards the players.

"A crack," - Hank explained, pointing at the approaching geyser with his gun.

"Run for it!" - Mabel yelled on the top of her lungs. And they ran. The ice was trembling under their feet. Looking over her shoulder, Wendy saw that the crack in the ice, and the geyser together with it, reached the place where they were standing when Mabel shot the flyer, in some fifteen seconds, and it went further, cutting them from their way back. And a quick glance to the side told her that another crack was running forward to intercept them.

"We can do this!" - Mabel cried as they doubled their speed. The crack crossed their path, literally licking their heels. The footing trembled so violently that Wendy stumbled forward. Looking over her shoulder, in terror and awe she saw the pillar of water ejecting from under the cracked ice, no less than fifty feet tall, with clouds of steam enveloping it. In just a couple of seconds, rain of diminutive ice crystals fell over her, and she instinctively covered her face.

"Come on, get up!" - their leader helped Wendy back on her feet and dragged her further towards their objective. Looking around, Corduroy saw that cracks in ice were running in all directions from the crash site. Another one was in their path, and it was rapidly widening. The geyser has already moved further, but the crack was wide as a chasm, with its edges licked by waves of pitch-black water. The vigorous motion of ice made every step hard and unsure. Mabel was the first one running, she made a long jump without slowing down, landing on the other side effortlessly. Pacifica and Candy were keeping up with her. Hank, who's feet hammered heavily against the ice, jumped behind them, but he ended stumbling and falling on his face - the ice was extremely slippery because of the water that constantly washed it. Wendy was the next to jump, and she had to tumble not to end up prone. Soos was the last one. His jump wasn't long enough - his hands just barely slithered on the edge, and he fell back in the water. Wendy ran to his side to help him crawl on the ice floe, but he was nowhere to be seen. In a couple of seconts the girl realized that the game apparently considered falling in the ice-cold water a frag.

"Guys, we need to move," - Mabel urged them. A laser ray hit her shoulder, and she fell down, arms outstretched.

"Mabel!" - Hank and Pacifica shouted as one, jumping to her side. She, however, got up almost right away.

"Hank, shield!" - she ordered, and Corduroy drove the lower rim of his shield into the ice with force, facing the side from where the laser that struck Mabel shot. The rest of the team took shelter behind it.

"How are you?" - Northwest asked with concern, touching Mabel's hand. Candy started injecting various medications in Mabel's shoulder.

"Fine, thanks," - was the brief reply. - "What was that?"

"Come on, it hit you like a rock!" - Hank retorted.

"I asked what that was," - Pines peered from behind the shield. Wendy took a look, too, and saw four contraptions roughly the size of Stan's pickup truck gliding several feet above the ice surface, sending laser rays towards the team. Each was manned by two bots - a pilot and a gunner who directed long-range laser turret. They were circling on the team - two were outflanking from the left, two from the right. - "No-grav platforms!" - Mabel cried in frustration. - "I can't even-" - a bright red dot suddenly flashed on one of the platforms, the closest to them, marking a place where its hull has been burned through, and it started turning to the right, sliding off the rapidly rising face of the ice floe, falling upside down and shaking the gunner off. Teenagers turned around to see Pacifica readying her sniper laser for another shot.

"You guys go," - Northwest said casually. - "I can't run and shoot at the same time, but my gun can at least pierce their armor."

"Paz!" - Mabel exhaled, before Candy grabbed her and Hank by the elbows and dragged them forward.

"We'll met you on the other side, Paci!" - Chew cried. - "Thanks ahead." - Wendy tossed one last glance at Pacifica, who, standing astride, putting her gun on the elbow, took aim, heedless to the hail of laser fire around her. Then ginger then moved ahead with the rest, to the extraction point. And their footing remained unsteady. Another platform on their left was shot as soon as they made twenty steps forward, but then Pacifica's short cry and then white noise in the headphones informed them that they lost one more team-mate. Tossing a short look back, Wendy ensured it was so.

"Paz!" - Mabel inhaled through gritted teeth. - "Alright. Wendy, can you get closer to one of the platforms?" - she asked. Their movement was slow as they had to stay in cover of Hank's shield. - "Use your camouflage, sneak up on them. Throw a grenade inside or something, come on, you know it, you love it."

"I'll do my best," - the readhead promised with grim resolve. Having activated the camouflage, she was all but invisible to the naked eye. She briefly wondered if the platforms had sensors that could see her on the other wavelengths, but dismissed the though. She had a job to do. The girl ran forward, jumping across the crevices and polynyas, sliding on ice, climbing pressure ridges formed by colliding floes. There was about two hundred feet between her and the closest platform, the other one was moving further, shooting bursts of high-energy laser rays at the team, and Hank stopped in his tracks and turned his shield towards the enemy. Another one of its salvoes hit the shield flatly, and one of the rays, deflected from its surface, fired directly back at the platform, hitting its hood. It started to rotate madly, tossing the gunner away in process, until it hit the edge of a large ice rock, exploding.

"Fuck you in particular!" - Wendy heard her brother both through the headphones and in the distance, so loudly did he roar. However, before they could celebrate the small victory, another colossal ice hummock collided with the one they were standing on, shaking the players down. Hank and Mabel fell on their knees, while Candy lost her footings and rolled backwards, down the slope, towards the water.

"Candy!" - Mabel cried out, instinctively reaching out with her hand, although the other girl was already no less than ten feet away.

"제기랄!" - Chew cried, before yet another gigantic ice block flattened her against the iceberg they were standing at.

She finally approached the last platform that floater three feet above the ice. A crazy idea struck Wendy's mind. It was risky, but it might have been their exit ticket of the whole game. The girl inhaled and, aiming her submachine gun, opened fire. The driver was killed after a short burst. Camouflage went off as soon as she started shooting, and the gunner tried to switch to the closer target, but wasn't fast enough. After the second bot's body dissipated, Wendy climbed inside the platform and took driver's place.

That was new. The control paned dappled with flashing lights and indicators, but the general controlling system pretty much resembled steering wheel and pedals of a golf cart. Wendy gave it a small test run.

"What's going on?" - Hank's voice asked in the headphones.

"Why did it stop shooting?" - it was Mabel.

"Guys," - Wendy said, still a bit out of breath. - "I just hijacked the platform."

"Boo-ya!" - Hank roared. - "You're a Corduroy, sis!"

"That's my girl," - Mabel said, and her voice was quiet, but proud.

* * *

With great effort Wendy managed to get the platform close enough to her friends for them to climb on it, but when she thought she got the knack of driving it, Mabel displaced her from the driver's seat.

"Good job, kiddo, but I'd rather run it myself, OK?" - she patted the other girl's shoulder. Wendy only shrugged. Commotion of ice around them was still strong, and, knowing Mabel's driving skills, she decided to entrust control to the other girl.

"We shouldn't be far away," - Pines said, starting the platform in the general of a particularly large iceberg, likely intending to have a good look around from the top of it. - "Seeing anything, Hank?"

"Not really," - the guy responded. - "With the car jerking back and forth," - their vehicle was indeed jumping and rapidly turning as Mabel was throwing it across the chasms and dodged icebergs that emerged from the water here and there.

"None can do, that's the best driver you ever get," - Mabel retorted absently.

"Hey, I didn't mean-" - Hank started, - "there it is," - he pointed with his hand. Following his direction, the girls saw a building resembling a hangar. It was on a large field of ice that was untouched by the all-around destruction. There were no bots visible around it. - "So, what are we waiting for? Another gunship?" - he asked. Mabel turned the platform around.

"We're picking Pacifica up," - she explained before Hank could protest or inquire. - "She's still there, I can see her. Right, Paz?" - she added on the general team channel.

"Oh, don't mind me," - came a somewhat grumpy reply.

"Sit tight, we're coming for you," - Mabel promised. Hank just shook his heavy head, while Wendy gripped the railings harder - the platform's acceleration was considerable. In less than two minutes they reached Pacifica, who was balancing on an ice floe that didn't seem too stable. Carefully maneuvering the platform around, Pines managed to come close enough so the other girl could climb inside.

"It's getting crowded here," - Hank murmured.

"That's 'cause you take enough place for three human passengers," - Northwest shot back.

"I'll drop you all," - team leader promised, turning the vehicle around. - "Now buckle up, that's going to be a wild ride," - but it actually wasn't, at least not due to the ice and water commotion, and rather because of Mabel's manner of driving. It took them some five minutes to reach their destination, although in the end Pines exercised caution, wary of an ambush that might await them in the hangar or in several smaller building situated around it. When the platform reached the intact ice, they dropped Wendy who activated her camouflage and jogged towards the hangar. Getting around it, she saw a large open gateway and carefully peeked inside. The spacious space was nearly empty, save for several crates and containers - an unalienable attribute of any cover-based action shooter game. Only one figure was standing in the middle of the room.

"What's in there, Sis?" - Hank inquired through the team net. - "Seeing anyone? Or anything?"

"Guys, the Lasergod is here," - Wendy whispered.

"Get out of there, we'll take him down with the platform's mounted laser!" - Pacifica shouted.

"No, you won't," - Lasergod's voice announced in her headphones. She assumed that other players heard it too. - "you don't really think it would hurt me, right? You can't be that foolish. In any event, just come here already. This is the end of your game."

Wendy didn't want to enter on her own, so she waited for the others to arrive. The platform moved slowly, as if Mabel tried to emphasize solemnity of the moment. Despite what was said, Hank was still manning the laser cannon, and Pacifica was keeping the Lasergod at gunpoint of her sniper laser. Finally, the vehicle came to a stop some thirty feet away from their adversary. Wendy approached them, as Mabel crawled from the driver's seat and stood in front of Lasergod, holding her gun low.

"So?" - she asked. - "What now? Are you pleased?"

"Pleased I am indeed," - he answered, slowly nodding. - "This run was a sight to see. And your performance, Team Leader, I adored specifically."

"You should have a stand-off with her, like in Westerns," - Hank said. - "She'll take you down, you creep."

"That is not what I was talking about," - the divinity responded. - "Going back to retrieve the sniper - that's what I consider your best action. Remember, lasertag is a team play. And your associates are your greatest resource."

"You don't say!" - Mabel chuckled. - "Now, if we're done here, can we go home now? I miss Waddles, to be honest."

"So be it," - the Lasergod shrugged, and Wendy's vision faded in a flash of light.

* * *

When she regained vision, they all were in the center of a lasertag labyrinth back in Gravity Falls. Lightning and coloration seemed to Wendy too dull in comparison to the vivid arenas they had to visit, and beat of the music that sounded all over the place filled her ears. However, in an instant it was replaced with a mighty roar of her three brothers. Hank turned to Mabel and hugged her with full force, but she was already hugged tightly by Pacifica. Then Rufus jumped on Hank's shoulders and Sean jumped on Rufus', Grenda tackled the whole mess to the floor with her hugs, and Candy happily climbed on top of the pile. While Wendy wondered if Mabel survives burial under a mound of bodies, Soos was running in circles around her, and Tambry in turn hugged her and shook her, shouting - 'We're back!'. Robbie just dropped to his knees, as if he was going to puke.

"We did it!" - Hank bellowed.

"I'm going home," - Pacifica stated. - "I need to see my ponies."

"And I'm going to have a bucket of ice cream to sooth my nerves," - Candy smiled.

"Please, guys," - Mabel said, getting out from under the other teenagers. - "Behave. This wasn't any big deal, really." - The teens were getting up.

"Yeah, if you're Pines, maybe," - Hank grunted. - "Seriously, I need a time-out. You with me, bros?"

"Fuck yes!" - Rufus approved. - "To the Greasy's!"

"I'll have the largest burger they've ever made!" - Sean added.

"Oh, Greasy's!" - Grenda mused. - "Count me in!"

"Bet you I can eat more!" - the eldest brother boasted.

"I take the bet," - the girl agreed.

"I'm with you," - Candy said. - "They serve ice cream, don't they?"

The elder teens headed to the exit, arguing agitatedly about their plans for the rest of the day.

"Guys, wait" - Soos said, and everyone stopped, looking at him. - "We still have, like, twenty minutes left to play. Aren't we going to finish?" - he trailed off, seeing faces of the team. - "I guess no," - he shrugged.

* * *

 **The second part of a third chapter. I don't actually like it. It doesn't fit in the whole theme of Gravity Falls at all. Maybe one day I'll edit the whole story and remove the chapter entirely, replace it with something. In any event, feedback is appreciated, as always.**

 **Coronadotmontes, musicalocelot - thank you, I'm glad that you liked it.**

 **Stay weird, folks**


	6. Summerween special

It was twenty first of June and the Mystery Shack was boiling. Sort of. A couple of days earlier Stan announced a Summerween-themed costume party in the Shack on the actual Summerween evening, and Mabel was literally manic with preparations. She recruited Candy and Grenda to help her with decorations around the house, and Hank and Pacifica often came around to give a hand. Soos was just as ecstatic about the upcoming event, but not Wendy. Between trick-o-treating Soos and Tambry were constantly talking her into and costume party at the Shack she could not find mood for any of this.

"What's this, girl?" - Mabel asked her, narrowing her eyes. Her face smiled. - "You don't have a summerween spirit? Too bad for you! I have a story about a boy who didn't have a summerween spirit on Summerween, and that got him into quite some trouble!" - at that moment, Grenda approached Mabel from behind and, crying out - 'Mabes, we need you opinion on the color of drapery' grabbed Pines around the waist, put her on her shoulder and carried her away. - "Sorry, my people need me," - Mabel laughed as she and Grenda disappeared behind the corner. Wendy sighed. In the end she decided not to be a buzzkill. So when her shift ended and she came home, she finally started working on the costume.

* * *

"Thanks a thousand, Wendy, dawg," - Soos said as the three of them were walking down the road to the Shack early Summerween night after deciding they've collected enough sweats and treats in town. Soos had a surprisingly good penguin costume and carried jack-o-melon full of candies. Tambry was dressed as a witch and even had a broom. Wendy's costume was- rather lazy. She had a dark-brown - she would've preferred it was black - shroud with a hood and her trusty flashlight. The hood concealed her red hair, and with her pale skin and black circles under her eyes that she got from reading the journal late at night and getting up to work early in the morning, when she directed the light at her face from below it actually made impression on people. She even borrowed some white powder from Mabel to cover her freckles. - "It's so cool you joined us trick-or-treating. I thought you'd go trick-or-treating with your dad and bros."

"Gah!" - Wendy cried. - "Did you absolutely have to remind me?!"

"What?"

"Trick-or-treating with dad is totally embarrassing," - she said. - "I mean, have you seen him dressed like a Valkyrie? Ugh!"

"I wouldn't mind if my dad dressed up like a Valkyrie and went trick-or-treating with me," - Ramirez said quietly. Wendy bit her tongue.

"Soos, I'm sorry," - she said, putting a hand on his shoulder. - "I didn't mean it like that, it's just-"

"Wait a second, guys!" - Tambry interrupted her. - "There is something over there!" - she said, pointing at the thick gooseberry shrub beside the road.

Wendy looked with eyestrain, and she saw it. Not clearly - only a dark mass behind the bushes, pulsating and fluid. It dimly gleamed when the kids directed a flashlight at it. 'A bear?' - the girl thought, as it was roughly the same size. - 'No, something other. Something- from the journal?'

"Guys," - Tambry said sheepishly. - "Maybe we should leave?"

A second later, the dark mass lurched forward them with alarming speed. Tambry made an ear-piercing scream on the top of her lungs. Wendy backed off, but she was too slow. The swiftness of the creature took her by surprise, as it lunged towards them, crushing the bushes under its weight. It was not an animal, indeed, but exactly what it seemed earlier - a mass, amorphous, writhing, twisting like a gigantic jelly, but at the same time surprisingly fast. It was red, murky, gleaming wetly, with occasional leaves and twigs clinging to its body. In half a second Wendy realized that the horrendous amoeba has chosen her as a first victim. It surged at her like a tide, rising in a semi-vertical wave. A familiar sweet smell reached her nostrils, but her conscience, filled with fear and excitement of an upcoming action, discarded it. A second later the monster was slamming its full heaviness at the girl. Wendy tumbled to the side so quickly she almost got a sprained ankle, but the girl ignored it. Turning around to face her opponent, she saw a whole grove of pseudopods reaching for her. She rolled away, jumped to her feet swiftly and tried to run, but before she could make three step, a large clot of liquid the monster flung from its body hit her between the shoulder blades, and she fell. In less than a second, the lurching horror was upon her.

"Get away from me, you dough," - Corduroy managed to scream before the mass covered her wholly. It was cold, viscid and sticky, and had a certain familiar smell, but she had no time to muse on it, as she had to hold her breath and shut her eyes. The semi-liquid mass doused impulse of her flailing hands. The girl managed to reach out with her hand, but couldn't drag herself out of the creature. If only she could grab something. Anything-

Suddenly, the crushing weight somewhat lifted from her, giving her a moment to catch her breath. Quickly wiping her eyes with one hand, she heard, like from the distance:

"Leave her alone, you shoggoth!" - It was Soos. The ginger turned her head to see her friend beating the monster with the jack-o-melon she dropped earlier. She didn't believe her eyes at first, because it seemed impossible that Ramirez' efforts, however honest they were, could make the huge amoeba back off. A second later, after an especially strong punch that made the jack-o-melon plunge into the mass, it was torn from boy's hand, making him fall back on his butt. Wendy tried her best to escape, expecting the creature to strike back any moment, but the retaliation did not come. Instead, the weight lifted from her even more, allowing her to stand up and run several feet away. She licked her lips reflectively, and realized that the taste, just as the smell all along, was that of watermelon.

The jack-o-melon, meanwhile, was dragged deeper inside the mass, and it was taking a more or less vertical shape, a wide frame the size of Manly Dan. Finally, the jack-o-melon moved to the surface of the mass in front of it, nearly three-quarter of its height. Like a head. With a face.

"I have a head now, cool," - it said with a low gurgling voice. - "Thanks."

"Dude, you can talk!" - Soos marvelled.

"Yeah, cuz I have a head," - it replied. - "Sorry I attacked you, chick," - it said to Wendy. - "This is a real kick in the head."

"Don't mention," - the girl sighed. - "This happens to me every other day," - she felt tired.

"You must be avenging spirit of all the watermelons that are butchered during the Summerween," - Soos guessed.

"Dunno, man," - the monster replied. - "before I got the head, everything was in a blur. Now I'll try not to jump into conclusions head-on."

"What should we call you?" - the boy inquired.

"Dunno. Head honcho, maybe?" - the monster suggested.

"Nah, I think Jack is a proper name for you," - Ramirez said.

"Oh, wow, cool," - it agreed. - "This is a real headbanger. Now, I should head to my headquarters so I can have a roof above my head-"

"Dude, did Soos give you a book of bad puns along with this jack-o-melon?" - Wendy snapped finally.

"Wow there, redhead, cool your head," - Jack responded. - "I, like, got my conscience some two minutes ago, I can't actually make heads or tails of it yet. So, heading out. Be seeing ya, knuckleheads!" - it drooled away to the forest. Wendy rolled her eyes.

"Are you OK?" - Tambry asked, coming closer. Corduroy shrugged.

"My leg hurts," - she said. - "Plus, I'm all wet, and I guess, my summerween costume is ruined for good."

"Don't worry, dawg," - Soos cheered her. - "We now have a new fried."

"Guys, let's get this straight," - Wendy said, - "Just a minute ago two hundred pounds of moving blood-thirsty watermelon meat attacked us, but calmed down when it took a jack-o-melon from Soos, now it talks, walks around and makes horrible puns. Why are you acting like nothing happened?!"

Soos and Tambry exchanged looks.

"Um, dawg, we've seen walking mushrooms and shot some laser-dudes, I don't think that walking and talking watermelon is something to be surprised about."

"Besides, it's summerween," - Tambry added, - "stuff like this is supposed to happen."

Sound of working engine told them about a coming vehicle not long before the light of headlamps did. When the tires screeched on the pavement, they realized it was Hank's used minivan.

"Sis, is that you?" - Hank stuck his head through the driver's window.

"Holy guacamole!" - it was Mabel. Light flashed, and a soft click of focal-plane shutter sounded - Mabel's camera made a picture.

"You guys," - Wendy sighed again.

"Hey doods, we were heading to the Shack, and we met a watermelon meat, and we sort of had a fight," - Soos explained.

"Same old," - Hank yawned. He looked like a cross between a zombie and a Frankenstein monster with some weird microchips attached to his head for reasons unknown and wires going under his shirt. He even had stitches drawn carefully on his beefy arms.

"Nevermind all that, Wendy, your costume," - Mabel climbed out of the car and walked around Wendy, taking photos with each step. She was dressed in a dirty lab coat and some deranged jeans, her hair was a total mess, and she was wearing an awkwardly large glasses - a stereotypical mad scientist.

"Yeah, I knew it's gonna be ruined one way or another," - Corduroy murmured.

"What. Are. You. Talking. About." - Pines' words were accompanied by clicking and flashing of her camera. Then she took a couple of pictures more with her smartphone, and then she asked Soos and Tambry to step aside and posed Wendy in front of the car, in the headlights. Mabel climbed inside and took several pictures through the windshield. - "OK, now climb in, guys," - she waved to the younger teens. - "We'll give you a ride to the Shack."

"Sis, careful, you'll leave stains on the seats."

"I can walk," - Wendy said hopelessly.

"No you can't!" - Mabel protested. - "Hank, don't be an ass, I'll help you clean the car later. Get inside, Wenwen. We'll be in the Shack in no time," - she looked at her camera. - "When I develop the film..." - she said under her breath.

"Why do you keep using this primordial film camera?" - Hank inquired. - "I mean, digital ones are way more handy, and stuff."

"It's heritage," - Mabel shrugged. - "Sort of. And it makes the whole process a lot more dramatic."

* * *

They were by the Shack in a couple of minutes, and Mabel tried to talk Wendy into ambushing some folks outside the building to scare them for life, but the younger girl refused. In any event, her arrival at the party was a sensation - in a black gown, soaking with thick red liquid, Wendy was looking- impressive. And Mabel insisted the contest for the best summerween costume was conducted right away, and she gave her voice to Wendy. And quite a number of others did, too.

"Dudes and dudettes, I crapped my pants to death when I saw her out there," - Hank confessed.

"Where did you get so much fake blood?" - Grenda inquired. She was dressed as an intimidatingly huge mothman and had a pair of butterfly wings on her back, although she insisted it was a pixie costume.

"It's watermelon juice," - Wendy said, despaired.

"You smeared yourself with watermelon?"

"The watermelon attacked me, sort of."

"I just dislocated my brains," - Candy complained. She was dressed in oriental-themed clothes with a fox tail attached behind and had fox ears on her head. According to her, it was a 'Bulyeowoo' costume.

In the end, however, Pacifica got the Summerween costume prize - most people voted for her, and not only because of her general popularity among the town's youth and her status. Her costume was a ball dress made of sham gossamer besprent with a great number of diminutive and very life-like spiders. On her face, a half-mask with six additional eyes rested. The whole ensemble didn't look exactly scary, no - it was astonishing.

Wendy didn't mind Pacifica getting the prize. She was more concerned that her own costume was ruined and that she was soaking wet with watermelon juice which made her feel cold in every breeze. Mabel mostly fixed the issue, letting the girl take a quick shower and giving her some of her own clothes: tee-shirt, too baggy for her, a skirt that fit her a little better and dry underwear that wasn't Wendy's size either. So there Wendy was, sitting on a coach at the side of dance floor, sipping on pitts cola, watching the dancing crowd and totally unsure what exactly she was doing there.

"Come on, cheer up, it's a party!" - Mabel said, flying by. But Wendy wasn't in the mood, and she could not help it. She tried to dance some, but it just wasn't her thing, and finally she made her way out of the dance floor, and to the Shack's back porch. There she stood with a can of cola, in a warm Oregon summer night, watching the sky, still lightened by the sun from below the horizon and listening to the now distant music.

"Wendy, you OK?" - she heard Soos asking. The girl look around and saw her friend, slightly worried.

"Yeah, man, I'm cool, just- you know, wanted some fresh air," - she explained, shrugging.

"Not a fan of crowds, eh, kid?" - a hoarse voice asked from the side. Looking there, preteens saw Stan sitting on an old sofa on the side of the porch. He was rather pale, his face covered in small drops of sweat.

"Mr Pines, what are you doing here?" - Wendy inquired.

"Pretty much the same as you," - he said, - "just wanted to breathe."

"Are you alright?" - Soos asked. - "I mean, you don't look so well."

"I guess so," - Stan whispered. - "Jesus, amigo, can you go to my room and bring me a pack of medicine that lies on the bedstand, por favor? And a glass of water," - he added, breathing heavily.

"Uno momento," - the boy nodded, running inside the building.

"You see, this happens when the years start to pile up," - Stan quietly explained.

"Need me to call Mabel?" - Corduroy asked cautiously, but he shook his head slowly. After a minute of awkward silence Soos returned with the medicine and water.

"Here you are, Mr Pines," - he said. Stan thanked him, taking two pills from the blister. - "Mabel never told us she has a brother," - Soos added. - "I mean, I've seen a photo on your bedstand, of Mabel and some guy who really looks very much like her, so I decided he's her brother. Why didn't he come to visit you, too?"

Stan paused. Two pills laid on his open palm, his gaze blank. The silence was unsettling.

"She had a brother," - Stan said at last. He was speaking quietly and slowly. - "He died three years ago. Here, in Gravity Falls."

"Mr Pines, I'm so sorry," - Wendy said sincerely. - "We didn't know."

"I- I didn't mean to-" - Soos stammered.

"Nothing for you to be sorry about," - Stan interrupted.

"We, like, reminded you of that."

"I don't think I ever forget," - he muttered.

"How-" - is this an appropriate thing to ask? - "How did it happen?"

Stan finally put the medicine in his mouth and gulped down the water.

"He ran away to the woods. Alone," - he explained. - "And then he was caught in a wildfire. He had it coming, always sticking his nose where it was hot, fucking imbecile!" - Wendy looked at Stan's face in surprise, only to see tears in his eyes.

"But Mabel-" - Soos started perplexedly, - "She's always so cheerful-"

"Mabel cried so much she went blind for two days," - Stan whispered. - "It's just the type of person she is. She didn't want her parent to lose both children at the same time, so she remains herself. Her laughable carefree self. Can't imagine what it takes her," - for some time they all were silent, - "Come on, why are you still standing here?" - Stan said finally, sounding much more like his usual self. - "It's a party, go on and have some fun, or whatever."

Later in the evening Wendy could not get the story out of her head. Watching Mabel dancing carelessly and fooling around when she and Hank made a little show with their costumes, pretending that 'the doctor' was controlling 'Frankenstein monster' through her joystick, she thought about what must have been really happening inside Mabel. And about the ghost she has seen in the Shack. She was thinking about it the whole evening, and later in the night when Hank drove her home, and when she was laying down to sleep. Putting two and two together, the girl had to admit she does not know the answer.

* * *

 **So. This was supposed to be a special, not a full-grown chapter. However, it features some plot development. Ferealty, maybe it answered some of your questions. Maybe it didn't. Pining for Dipper, heh. Thank you for your encouragement, by the way. Kinnsanity0317, coronadotmontes - thanks, I'm glad you liked it.**

 **06.22. Happy Summerween, folks**


	7. Body of clay

Stan's office was littered with all sorts of junk an old man would probably considered either useful or sentimental enough to keep. The chair behind his desk was occupied by Mabel. Peculiarly, she was dressed in a dark blue business suit with a white blouse and had a stylish hairdo. Neat three-piece wire rim glasses rested on her nose and, while being almost unnoticeable, attenuated her costume really well.

"Please do come in," - Pines smiled when she saw the two preteens entering the office.

"Ugh- Mabes, you called?" - Wendy looked around uneasily.

"Welcome to the annual Boss Mabel event!" - Mabel proclaimed.

"But-" - Soos meekly asked. - "Where's Stan?"

"Away," - Pines tilted her head. - "On vacation, you can say. For three days straight, we manage the Shack without him. And I intend to show him that I can earn just as much money with this ramshackle tourist trap as he can, and likely even more. And for that, I need your help. First of all, Soos, your mission is creating new showcases. Remember that Jack-a-melon guy you told me about, or think of whatever else you want - we need new expositions."

"I'm so on it!" - Soos beamed.

"Splendid! Now, Wendy. Don't you think that the Shack is in a desperate need of redesign?"

"I-"

"Naturally! So, I have prepared some props beforehands, and it was patiently waiting for its hour stashed in a distant dark corner of the attic. Now its time has come at the long last, and someone has to take it and decorate the inside and outside of the gift shop with it. And by someone I mean-"

"Yeah, yeah, it's me, I get it," - Wendy mumbled angrily.

"Smart girl! But don't worry, I'll help you."

* * *

Mabel did help her, although, replacing Stan, she clearly picked up a bit of his personality, so this time her help mostly consisted of shouting and goading like 'Hang that lamp higher!', 'Litter it with glitter!' or simply 'move faster!' It went on for the longer part of the morning, until the first bus with the tourists arrived, and Mabel ordered Wendy to take her usual place behind the cash machine. Pines herself went on to greet the stirring sea of tourists:

"Step right up, people, and be ready to see the world's famous collection of mysteries, oddities, weird and paranormal that you will never see again - unless you come back to the Mystery Shack one more time, that is. And you definitely will!" - hearing the voice getting further away to the museum, Wendy shrugged. Stan must have taught Mabel well. Corduroy produced a random girly magazine from her backpack and started reading. When the tour was over and the crowd filled the gift shop, working routine hit again, and for some time the redhead was busy. Another bus of tourists stopped shortly, and the circle continued. Then it was lunch time.

Slowly munching sandwiches and sipping pitt cola, Wendy and Soos were musing on the events of the first half of the day. The girl tried to explain why did she think that Mabel was a better boss of the two Pines, but her friend seemed too down that someone might disapprove of Stan, so she let the topic go. While they were eating, tires scratched on the gravel outside, and then the front door opened, pushed by mighty hand of Hank Corduroy.

"Here you are," - Mabel said, entering the gift shop through the other door. - "About time. And I made you a sandwich."

"Just one?" - Hank sighed.

"There'll be more, but first - what I asked you about," - she took a sheet of paper from her jacket's inner pocket and handed it to Hank. He unfolded it and started reading.

"Planks? Fabric? Wiring? What're you up to?" - the guy probably arched his eyebrow, but his forelock was so thick it was impossible to tell.

"The Mystery Shack is under new management and has a new design!" - Mabel stated.

"Under new management for two days," - Hank pointed.

"Regardless," - the girl waved her hand. - "So, could you be a dear and go get all of this? Here's the money," - she handed him a few folded banknotes. - "and I'll make you a couple more sandwiches in the meantime. You can take Soos with you," - she pointed at Soos who hastily gulped down the rest of his meal. Hank looked at him, then back at Mabel, then at the list and at the Mabel again. She grinned at him. The guy sighed heavily.

"Fine, I'll do it. But I want extra ham on my sandwiches." - Pines nodded in agreement. - "Let's go, pipsqueak," - he beckoned Soos, heading outside, and the boy quickly ran after him. Wendy tossed Mabel a puzzled look.

"Seriously, why do you need all this?"

"I need raw materials to express my creativity," - the older girl waved her hands around dramatically. - "Well now, I have a meeting with a private investor arranged for just about now," - she made a whole show of checking her wristwatch. At the next moment the doorbell rang delicately, and no one other than Pacifica Northwest came in. - "Ah, and there she is!" - Pines exclaimed. - "Come in, come in, we were just talking about you."

"Said anything good?" - Pacifica smiled.

"I wish I could speak faster so I could say enough," - Mabel said.

"Why thank you! By the way, you look so gorgeous in this business suit!" - Northwest responded.

"Gee, I know, and thanks! Come on, we have issues to discuss. Follow me," - she gently took Pacifica's hand and led her through the 'Stuff only' door. Wendy rolled her eyes because she didn't know how to react to the whole situation, and looked at the clock. According to the schedule, the next tourist bus was coming in about an hour which meant she had quite some free time, unless some stray family travelling through Oregon would decide to pay the Shack a visit. So Corduroy took the girly magazine and resumed reading.

Time passed by to the rustling of leafing pages. Wendy flipped through the issue distractedly. The back of her mind barely registered heavy footsteps on the porch, as well as a shadow cast over the semi-transparent window in the door that she saw with a corner of her eye. The next moment, however, her attention was mercilessly torn away from the magazine, as the door to the gift shop was obliterated by a powerful punch. The girl was on her feet instantly, watching in terror how a massive body of humanoid creature the size of manotaur was squeezing into the room through a damaged door frame. It didn't have any distinctive features - two feet, two arms that ended in palms with crude stout fingers and two spheres, one atop the other, on top of its broad shoulders for a head. No facial features, no details. The surface of its body was grey and dry, scabrous, covered in cracks. It moved towards Wendy.

The girl still took time to grab her backpack before storming out of the gift shop at full speed. She heard the deafening rumble of the counter being blasted to pieces. The feeling of excitement of imminent danger on her heels that became familiar to her throughout this summer was filling Wendy again.

She stopped at the 'Stuff only' door from the gift shop to see if the monster was after her, or it had a particular interest in the counter or cash machine. A quick glance confirmed that she was its primary target - the huge humanoid was running after her, albeit its movement was caricature and slower imitation of human run.

"What happened?!" - Mabel appeared from the hallway beside the stairs, followed by Pacifica. One look at Wendy's face told her the situation was serious. Next, the door from the gift shop was eradicated with a mighty blow. The monster's approach was delayed by the tight passage again, and Mabel didn't waste time. - "Run!" - she cried, snatching Pacifica's hand and making it to the Shack's back door in one second. Wendy was the first to run outside, followed by two older girls and Waddles who appeared out of nowhere and ran beside them at a speed that wasn't expected from a pig of such size. - "What was that?" - Mabel asked on the run.

"No idea, it broke into the gift shop all of a sudden and it was after me," - Wendy explained, not slowing down. Behind them, the third door in a row was brought to ruin by a devastating hit.

"What even is it?" - Pacifica asked. Her question was left unanswered.

"What should we do?" - Wendy's mind was more practical. However, she didn't receive any answer either.

"At least it's slow," - Northwest responded.

"But I don't think it will ever tire," - Corduroy reacted.

"It stopped," - Mabel said suddenly.

"Wait, what?" - two other girls echoed. They stopped too and turned around, while Waddles, oinking agitatedly, made it further towards the woods. The monster was standing some eighty steps behind them. After a couple of seconds it turned around and headed back for the Shack.

"OK, I know this sounds crazy, but I have a book that has all sort of weird paranormal stuff described," - Wendy said, fishing the journal #2 from her backpack.

"Where did you get it?" - Mabel gawked at the book.

"Hey, isn't it-" - Pacifica started, only to be silenced with a mighty elbow nudge from her friend.

"What?" - Wendy asked. - "I actually found it in the forest under a fallen tree. Now, guys, I've read the whole book already and I think there was something about this kind of creatures, but I can't actually put my finger-" - she paused seeing Mabel's face. Pines was looking at the book and at the Mystery Shack alternately.

"You guys try to figure something out, I'll be back in a minute," - she said before dashing back to the building.

"What?" - Pacifica cried. - "Are you nuts?" - but Mabel was already twenty steps away. Exchanging looks with the younger girl, Northwest followed her, but her run was not as desperate as Mabel's.

"Guys?" - Wendy said, suddenly feeling lonely. What was Mabel thinking? She's going to get herself killed. Corduroy shook her head in desperation and ran after the elder girls.

However, neither she nor Pacifica made it to the Shack in time. Rumbling and crashing noise was heard inside, most likely from the second floor. Then the attic window was broken by the grappling hook shot from inside, and the hook itself flew to the forest and caught one of the lower branches of the nearest tree. Then they saw Mabel squeezing through the broken window and then tossing a belt around a strained rope and sliding down. When she was halfway to the tree, something else broke inside the attic and the rope quickly loosened, forcing the girl to fall. She tumbled nimbly when landing and stood up on her feet right away. Her friends ran to her side, noticing that she had a backpack now too.

"Mabel, are you OK?" - Pacifica asked, grabbing her hand.

"Unexpected crash landing," - Pines responded, - "but I'm alright. Did you come up with anything?"

Pacifica and Wendy exchanged looks.

"You were gone for, like, one minute," - the ginger said.

"OK, then I'll go one more time," - Mabel said calmly. Another strike shook the building, and the attic window was widened. Next, the monster appeared, squeezing through the hole. When it went through, it fell to the ground with a muffled thud. - "I'll distract this- unusual customer, while you try to think of something, or find something in the book."

"What do you mean - you'll distract it?!" - Pacifica asked in terror, as the monster was getting up clumsily.

"You know what I mean. I'll guide it away, and you meanwhile try to think, OK?" - Mabel trotted towards the monster, but the blond caught her hand.

"You can't!" - she pleaded. - "Don't!"

"Pac."

"You'll get yourself killed!"

"Pac, please. I'll be fine," - Mabel softly, but persistently took her arm away. - "Don't worry about me, just try to find a way do stop it while I buy you some time." - she ran towards the creature, leaving Pacifica behind, with shaking hands and drops of tears in her eyes. The monster was running towards them, too. When Mabel was close enough to it, it swung a massive hand at her, but the girl tumbled under the blow, ending up behind it. The creature swung its arm backwards, but Pines easily dodged and ran to the forest.

"Come on," - Wendy urged the other girl. - "We need to search through the journal."

"But Mabel is-"

"Mabel'll be alright, she's tougher than this."

"How can you be like this?" - Pacifica yelled. - "What if she doesn't make it!"

"And what are you gonna do?" - Wendy yelled in response. - "Break your arm at that- thing? I'm worried for Mabel too, alright? But to help her, we need to do what she told us to do."

* * *

"Not demonic caterpillar, not cycloctopus, not megamosquito-" - Wendy murmured, flipping through the pages. Her back was resting against the Shack's wall, and Pacifica was sitting nearby, biting her nails. It was barely three minutes since Mabel lured the monster into the forest, but for the two girls it seemed like an eternity. Wendy turned yet another page and, again, found nothing useful. A sound of a cracking and falling tree came from somewhere out there in the woods. Pacifica jumped to her feet and started pacing back and forth agitatedly. Wendy, swallowing a lump in her throat, turned another page.

"Aha!" - she cried, making Northwest jump again and rush to her side. - "I think I found it!" - she showed the other girl an opened page with a drawing of a crude humanoid figure.

"Golem?" - Pacifica read, arching an eyebrow. - "Well, that- uh, that kind of explains things. A bit. But who made it and who commanded it to attack the Mystery Shack?"

"I'm more interested in how to stop it," - Wendy murmured.

"Yeah, right. And what does the book say?"

"Sup guys!" - Mabel's voice cried out from the direction of the forest. The girls turned their heads and saw Pines approaching them. Her breath was unsteady, the shirt was torn in several places, displaying cuts and bruises, and left trouser-leg was downright torn away below the knee. Her eyes were gleaming.

"Mabel!" - Pacifica rushed to her side immediately, hugging the other girl, then looking in her face. - "You're alive! How do you feel?"

"Crying: cockles and mussels alive, alive o!" - the brunette sang, hugging Pacifica back. - "Calm down, I'm perfectly fine, and we have some time, although not much. Our guest fell into ravine, and with how clumsy it is, it'll take some time climbing out. So, what did you find?"

"Mabel, is it made of clay?" - Wendy inquired.

"Um-" - Pines wrinkled her forehead. - "Maybe. Didn't touch it, actually. Why?"

"It might be a clay golem," - Corduroy showed her elder friend the picture in the journal. Mabel took the book from her and started reading the description, her eyes darting back and forth on the page.

"Looks very much like it," - she agreed. She then started to read aloud - "Weaknesses: the golem is controlled by means of a special token or amulet that is designated during its creation. Destruction of the amulet makes the golem uncontrollable and puts it on rampage for a limited amount of time, after which the golem becomes dormant. Aside from that, most golems are impervious to most forms of physical damage due to the hardness of their material."

They heard rumble coming from the forest, noise of crushing lumber. And it was steadily coming closer.

"Mabel!" - Pacifica cried nervously. - "Where's the amulet? How are we supposed to destroy it?"

"I doubt that the golem has the amulet somewhere on him," - Pines shrugged.

"It's dumb, guys, maybe we can trick it into falling from the cliff?" - Wendy suggested. - "Or drowning in a lake?"

Between the trees they could catch glimpse of their adversary running to them.

"Look," - Pines said. - "I have neither time nor interest in trying out the 'normal way', so we'll have to do it the 'Mabel way'. Keep it busy and try to lead it away from the Shack," - she handed her backpack to Northwest and ran to the general direction of the building. Pacifica tried to catch her hand but failed, and bit her nail in fear and frustration.

"Come on!" - Wendy tugged her sleeve. - "No time to stand around," - so they ran, and the golem actually did follow them instead of going inside the Shack in search of Mabel. Luckily, the girls already figured out that the pursuer, however strong it was, had little to boast in terms of speed. So this time they had more of a light jog instead of a sprint. But Pacifica couldn't stop looking back over her shoulder, and Corduroy knew she wasn't watching the golem that chased them, but waiting for Mabel to come back.

"Where do you think she is?" - she asked the younger girl.

"No idea," - Wendy responded. - "Save your breath."

"I'll go look for her," - was the answer.

"What?" - the redhead cried. - "Don't be crazy!" - but it was too late, as Pacifica was already running to the side, intending to run around the charging golem in a wide arc. The plan, however, failed as the magical construct followed Pacifica rather than Wendy. Letting out a loud shrilling cry, Northwest changed her trajectory to stay out of golem's reach, but she headed towards the Shack nevertheless. Corduroy remembered Soos playing with a giant mushroom. - "Hey, you!" - the girl cried, throwing a pinecone at the golem. It paid her no heed. - "I said hey!" - she repeated, running closer to their assailant. She instantly regretted the decision as the clay construct met her with a mighty and wide backfist, leaving her enough space to only narrowly dodge. Wendy turned and ran away.

'What was I thinking? I didn't want something like this to happen again,' - the thoughts raced inside her skull while she rushed down the winding trail between the trees, hearing heavy footsteps and cracking of branches behind her. Manotaur, walking fungus, even the Summerween monster - all melded into one abstract danger that chased her, staying on her heels, with a malicious intent to end her life. And then she felt something more - anger starting to boil inside her. - 'I won't let you! I'm only twelve, I've a whole life to live! I won't let you be better than me!' - She used her surroundings to her advantage, leading the golem to the forest thicket where it was somewhat slowed, all the while slowly turning around in a wide arc back to the Shack. - 'Mabel will take you down! She says she has a plan, and I trust her. And I'll help.'

A couple of minutes later she came back to the Shack. Her lumbering pursuer was wading through the forest some hundred feet behind her. Wendy saw Mabel and Pacifica beside the building, the former a military shoulder bag in her hands. Coming closer and catching her breath, Corduroy mutely pointed at the bag, question obvious in her eyes.

"Explosives," - Mabel said calmly, forcing the other girls to cough in surprise. - "Now I need some help again. Give me some space so I can come to this walking brick from behind. Run away and see if it follows you."

"Not again!" - Pacifica groaned. - "You'll get yourself killed!"

"Oh no, not me,

I've never lost control," - Pines sang nonchalantly. - "Please, guys, just some more effort. We already know it is slow, just- powerwalk away from it, or I don't know. All of a sudden doesn't seem like my line, but whatever. I'll catch with it up from behind and-"

"Bullshit!" - Wendy interrupted. - "It'll aggro on you the moment you come close enough. If you want to blow it up, leave that bag on the ground in its way and wait till it steps on it."

"Good thinking!" - Mabel nodded, taking a small remote controller from the bag. - "Now let's go, guys, it's already here."

So they ran, heading towards the highway. Speedily at first, to gain some distance from the golem. The bag was dropped about two hundred feet from the Shack. Looking behind her shoulder, Wendy saw that the golem was ineluctably closing to it. Thirty feet. Twenty. Ten.

"Drop down and cover your ears," - Pines commanded, and they did just that - Wendy right away, Pacifica had to be pulled by her hand. Mabel pressed the button on the controller. They heard the explosion even through covered ears. The golem was blown to pieces in a fiery blazing of white and yellow, a large piece of clay flying over their heads and landing further on the road.

"My name is Mabel,

It rhymes with 'table',

It also rhymes with 'label',

And finally, it rhymes with 'cable'!" - Pines recited, standing up. - "Technology vs Magic - 1-0. Everyone can exhale now." - Wendy let out the longest sigh of relief she has ever heard. Pacifica wasted no time jumping at Mabel and hugging her. Naturally, Mabel hugged her back. - "Paz, Paz," - she said soothingly. - "It's alright. Nobody's hurt," - she shot Wendy a somewhat embarrassed glance. Pacifica mumbled something from somewhere around Mabel's collarbone.

"Let's not do anything like this ever again," - she said sheepishly, parting from the other girl finally.

"Yeah, at least for a week," - the brunette sighed. - "Come on, Paz, we did it! It's dead, we've nothing to fear! Let's go, I want to see it up close!" - she sped towards the golem's remains, making Pacifica gasp in terror once more. Two other girls followed her immediately.

To Wendy, even the destroyed golem still looked intimidating, or at least unsettling. Mable, however, hand no problem with inspecting its head closely. Waddles strutted to them from the woods, likewise inspecting the head, sniffing it and grunting thoughtfully.

"That awkward moment when you're so smart that you have to create yourself your own problems, because all other problems are too simple," - she murmured.

"What do you mean?" - Pacifica questioned.

"Doesn't it remind you of something?" - Pines asked back. - "Its head. One ball atop the other. Like a big round head with a ridiculously large pompadour haircut. And here's to prove my point," - she poked her finger at a small carving on the side of the lowest spheres. Looking intently, Wendy realized that it was a five-rays star with an eye in the center of it.

"What's this?" - she asked, although the symbol seemed vaguely familiar somehow.

"Tent of Telepathy!" - the blond exclaimed, and Mabel nodded.

"Let's go back to the Shack, or whatever's left of it. I'm tired during the day-" - she was interrupted by the sound of working engine. At first Wendy thought it was a tourist bas, and that would've meant lost profits considering Mystery Shack's current state, but soon she saw Hank's car was approaching them. It minivan came to a stop in front of a small crater made by the explosion. The guy climbed out of the car and slowly walked around the crater in circle before coming closer to the girls.

"You can't go one year without this, can you?" - he asked Mabel, and she shrugged. - "Figures. So, I've got your stuff, do you want me to unload it, or is the whole place going to fly away all of a sudden, or shit?"

"Please do," - Mabel said. - "I'll go and see if your sandwiches survived."

"But seriously, what happened?" - Hank inquired.

"The golem attacked us, but I blew it up with C-4," - Mabel explained. The guy nodded. - "Can I ask you go buy more planks and other materials tomorrow?" - she continued. - "Because- well, you can see it yourself."

"Happy to help, Mabes," - he smiled.

"Guys, let the construction crew do all this," - Pacifica protested.

"Well, the problem is, the Shack's budget can hardly afford hiring construction crew," - Mabel shook her head.

"Wouldn't you know, the Shack's budget is not the only place you can take money from," - Northwest shrugged. Three elder teenagers exchanged looks, although it was rather difficult to exchange looks with Hank due to extremely thick hair covering his eyes. Finally, Pines smiled.

"Thank you," - she said, putting a hand at Pacifica's shoulder. - "Although I don't know when we can give you the money back-"

"Whenever," - the blond waved her hand. - "That's not important. Let's get inside already and see how much damage was actually done."

"Right," - Mabel nodded. - "I hope the roof doesn't collapse on me top of me while I have tonight's rest."

"You can crash at our place tonight," - Hank suggested. - "On the sofa, right, sis?"

"Oh please," - Pacifica exclaimed, - "the whole Northwest Manor is at your service. You can call Candy and Grenda, and we'll have a sleepover of a lifetime."

"Let's get inside first," - Mabel said tiredly.

* * *

The rest of the day passed in cleaning. A lot of furniture in the Shack was damaged or outright destroyed, not to mention walls and doors. Mabel ordered construction crew's services for the next day, and announced that once all the major debris were taken away, the working day was over. Both Hank and Pacifica, throwing each other venomous glances, promised to head back to their respective homes, grab some dinner and then return to the Shack, but Mabel declined the offer, saying that she wanted to spend time alone, meditating on the day's events. That was exactly what she said.

"Wendy, you coming?" - Soos asked her.

"No, you go without me," - she shook her head. Soos shrugged and made his way out of the Shack through the breach that replaced the door. Wendy slowly exhaled and went through the Shack in search for Mabel, who was in the attic, sitting on her bed, rubbing her temples.

"Can we talk?" - she asked the elder girl hesitantly.

"We absolutely must," - Mabel nodded, to her surprise. - "Come in, have a seat."

"Uh, OK, but-" - Wendy rubbed her neck. She came closer and sat on Mabel's bed next to her. - "Why did you want to talk to me?"

"Your book," - Pines explained. - "Can I see it again?" - Corduroy took the book out of her backpack and handed it to Mabel, - "Where did you get it?" - she asked, flipping through the pages, lingering for some time on the more interesting entries.

"I found it in the forest," - the redhead started to explain, sitting on Mabel's bed beside her. - "It was in the hole under a fallen tree near the Waterfall Trail. I found it back then when I was hanging those lamps you made, remember? I also found an old broken flashlight in there."

"Corn faeries," - Mabel read thoughtfully. - "The thing must be authentic."

"Look, most of it looks hilarious, OK, but there are some things written in there that are true. Things about Gravity Falls, Mabel! And we, I mean me and Soos, we saw some of those with our own eyes. Like-" - she took the journal from Mabel's hands and started searching through the pages, which didn't take her long, so familiar she was with the book now - "this," - she showed a picture to her friend.

"A Manotaur," - Pines read.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, it looks dumb," - Wendy repeated. - "But please believe me-"

"I believe you," - the other girl nodded, confusing her. - "I've spent three summers in Gravity Falls, you know. After that, I can believe in a hellish lot of things, Manotaurs not being the strangest of them. Can I have this book for a couple of days?"

"What?" - Corduroy blinked. - "Why?"

"I want to read it," - the elder girl shrugged. - "You said yourself that at least some things in here are true. It wouldn't hurt to read, right?"

"Mabel-" - _The ghost warned me about you._ \- "Sure, you can have it."

"Thanks," - Pines smiled, ruffling Wendy's hair slightly. - "I'll give it back as soon as I read it. And I read fast, so don't worry. Alright," - she put the journal on her nightstand, - "and what did you want to talk about?"

"I- you see-" - she suddenly did not know where to start - "when the golem attacked you were so cool, so calm. I just don't get it - you could have died, but you just lured it to the forest, away from the Shack and us. And you are so dodgy. Mabel, I've never met anyone like you."

"Why thank you," - Mabel sported a charming smile. - "Although mostly guys say this, but still-"

"Where did you learn all that?"

"Oh, you know. Here and there."

"Mabel!" - Determination to get the answer took the best of Wendy. - "You're just three years older than me! How comes you can drive like this, and fight like this, and also shoot, and I don't know what else you can do. And when you destroyed the golem with dynamite..."

"It was C4."

"Mabel!" - _Why did you have C4 at your great uncle's house? What else do you have there? Who are you?_

"I understand what you're trying to say," - Pines raised her hand. - "Well, I have reasons to be like this. You said it yourself - Gravity Falls is a strange place with a lot of mysteries around. And some of them are dangerous. And throughout the years our family, especially Gruncle Stan, had to deal with some of them, and it earned us- foes."

"Foes?" - Wendy asked, mouth slightly agape with bewilderment.

"Gideon, for example."

"Gideon," - the ginger wrinkled her freckled nose. - "And who is he, exactly?"

"An old acquaintance. He was performing as a child psychic in 2012, although he was a fraud. And a maniac. And one of his manias was a feud with our family that he thought of. But he was dead serious about it. Actually, it was Gruncle Stan who exposed Gideon. With my help. And..." - she sighed. - "with the help of my brother."

They were silent for some time.

"I know about your brother," - Wendy said quietly. - "Mr Pines told me."

"Really?" - Mabel didn't sound surprised. - "And what exactly did he tell you?"

Wendy depressed her eyes. It was awkward and unpleasant to say that - if not downright cruel.

"He told me that your brother died three years ago here in Gravity Falls."

"Of course," - Mabel shrugged nonchalantly. - "What else could he tell you? My brother ran alone to the woods, and then a massive wildfire started, and he was supposedly caught in the middle of it, and they didn't find his body. That's why I know my brother is alive."

"What?" - Wendy jerked. - "But how?-"

"His body was never found," - Pines girl explained patiently. - "And let me tell you something about my brother. My bro-bro wasn't just some twelve years-old common dude. Dipper was unbreakable. The toughest guy I've ever met, including Hank and your father. Although you could never tell by the looks of him," - she smirked, - "but he was tough as nails. A puny boy with a big head, indecisive and shy, he was bullied often, pushed around. But when he faced any real danger, he was unstoppable," - Mabel said with a proud gleam in her eyes. - "And when I was the one in danger - oh, you can't even begin to imagine! He saved me from- you know what, it's easier to say what didn't he save me from. Zombies, gnomes, ghosts, Summerween Trickster, dinosaurs, fire elemental - to name a few. Of course, I also saved his life quite a number of times. Together we've been through a lot. So if I say that my brother didn't die - that means he is still alive. Trust me on this one."

Wendy was all eyes and ears. Mabel didn't look sorrowful nor distressed talking about her brother. She was so calm and confident it seemed her brother was just out of town for a week, about to come back any minute. But it didn't add up, it didn't make any sense. How could she be so recklessly optimistic while everyone else who knew the truth were certain in his death?

"But if he's alive, where is he now? Why doesn't he come back?" - Wendy inquired. Mabel's smile became a little bit less cheerful and somewhat tense.

"I'll ask him when he's back," - she murmured. - "Until then, I'll just assume that he can't get back for some reason."

"Mabel," - Wendy said hesitantly. - "Look, I know how you feel. I've lost my Mom five years ago." - Pines mutely reached around the ginger with her arm and hugged her, holding her close. - "I know how much it hurts, to lose someone you love the most," - she continued, swallowing her tears. - "It is five years, but it still hurts. And I was just like that at first - I couldn't admit it. I believed that my Mom is going to come back to me any minute. But then I realized that she isn't, and it hurt even more, but at the same time it- it brought me peace somehow. Made me move on. So-"

"Hush," - Mabel said tenderly, and they sat there in silence for several minutes. - "Thank you for telling me, Wendy, and I know that. But this isn't what happened to me. If there was any peace for me to be found, I would have reached it by now. I know that you don't believe me, and no one else believes me, and those who know about it think I am crazy for not believing in Dipper's death, but this is the truth - he is alive."

Wendy knew she had to say something, but she could not find words. She just hugged her friend tighter, and they stayed like that for some time, before Mabel parted from her.

"You should probably go home," - she said. - "Today wasn't exactly a routine working day, amiright?"

"Yeah," - Wendy mumbled, heading to the door slowly. - "I'll see you tomorrow?" - she asked.

"The Shack is in pieces. When the repair crew comes, we'll be bringing it back to its former glory, so tomorrow is your day off," - Pines smiled. - "But if you want to come - in this house you are always welcome. Have a good night's rest, Wendy."

"Thanks, Mabel," - the younger girl responded. - "You too."

* * *

 **This is the fourth chapter. I hope you all liked it. Ferealty, thanks a lot, you know that your encouragement means a lot to me. I hope you sort all your problems out sooner rather than later, it's hard to have fun writing if you have to type it all using the phone. Looking forward to read more of your stories :-)**

 **Stay weird, mates**


	8. Questioning

Wendy was laying on her bed, staring at the ceiling. The cabin was noisy - her brothers were watching a rugby match on TV, commenting on it loudly and passionately. But the girl was oblivious to the sounds.

'Where did you get it?' - Mabel's said when she saw the journal. She didn't ask what it was. She knew. She told Wendy about the troubles and adventures she went through with her brother. And that pretty much was the same as what me and Soos faced here after I found the journal. Her brother was only twelve when they first came to Gravity Falls, and he spent here less than one summer before deceasing. Or disappearing, if what Mabel says is true.

 _The toughest guy in the world_. So, he owned this journal back then, it's almost certain. Although he didn't write it, he just made remarks. And he probably owned a journal #1. Most likely, Mabel now has it. The golem, Corduroy thought. Its movement was strange, when it initially switched between chasing them and going back to the Shack. 'If I recall correctly, at that moment we were further from it than it was from the Shack. If that's true, it does make sense - it was heading for the closest journal every time. One was in my backpack, the other one - in the Shack, in the attic, where Mabel sleeps. Then she went there to get the journals and save them from the golem, then it was after her. Then she gave her backpack to Pacifica, and the monster chased us - we had both journals. Then I tagged it, and it chased me instead. It all adds up,' - Wendy sighed. - 'I should have known earlier. All that talk about mystery hunting. And now Mabel's brother is dead - look where it all took him. And he had a journal. I bet, he, too, thought that he was prepared, ready for whatever comes after him.'

The girl turned to the side and stared at the window. It was already dark outside, and she didn't turn on the lights in her room, so she could see the almost black outlines of trees against the background of dimly red evening sky.

'Should I leave everything as it is? But the ghost asked me to stop Mabel, like ten times already. Perhaps, less, but still. Is it dangerous, whatever she's doing? Is it dangerous for me? Or for the other townsfolk? Is it dangerous for her? She's, like, my friend.' - Wendy sighed. - 'Or is she? Turns out I don't know so much about her. I still have no idea what is going on. Should I find out?' - She turned again, lying on her stomach, and hugged the pillow. She had a lot to do.

* * *

"Hank, how did you get to know Mabel so well?" - she asked the next day, when they were having breakfast.

"Well, we hang out a lot," - he started the explanation without ever stopping chewing.

"No, that's not it," - the girl shook her head. - "How did it begin?"

"Oh," - her brother finally swallowed down a particularly large piece of bacon. - "It was when she first came to Gravity Falls. Three years back, yeah. Three years already," - he smiled. - "You missed an awful lot, sis, spending summers at Grandpa's."

"Yeah, I get it," - Wendy sighed. - "And how did you meet her first?" - for a moment, Hank was lost in thoughts.

"She came to spend the summer breaks at Stan's place," - he said. - "It was not much different back then than it is now. His handyman was Ted Strange, you know him - the whole town knows him. And the cassier was that girl, how was it again? Rosanna, if I recall correctly, she left the town later together with her boyfriend, or something. And Mabel lived in there with-" - he paused, his face darkening, - "with her twin brother."

"And?" - Wendy urged.

"And they were constantly doing something or getting themselves involved in some sort of shit," - Hank smiled again, - "always sticking their noses around, they onced tried to film our Dad, interviewed him about the Hide-behind, can you believe that?" - The girl smirked despite the seriousness of their talk. - "Then one time I was dragged into one of their dust-ups, actually that Dipper guy broke my bike that I was saving money for for half a year. Well and I told him he'll choke on his teeth. And sis, and I'm shitting you not - her brother somehow brought to life a character of an arcade game. And the guy - in terms of fighting he'd make our dad run for his money. I thought I was done for. But Dipper, he took a bullet for me. And he walked away on his legs!" - _the toughest guy in the world._ \- "Well, after that I treated him differently. And boy was he smart! We started hanging out a lot - me, him and Mabel, Candy and Grenda, too, although less, Sean and Rufus from time to time. Then even that sniveling brat Pacifica caught up, now she's not half as nasty as she used to be, can you imagine what it was like? I think she had a thing for Dipper, but whatever. Anyway, there was so much crazy and fucked-up shit I can't fucking remember half of it - giant robots, dinosaurs, secret cults that fucked with people's brains, body switching, zombie attacks, harassing from Gideon Motherfucking Gleeful, other shit that I can't even begin to remember."

"Hank, don't you think you swear too much?" - Wendy mumbled.

"Nah, I'm good," - he waved his hand. - "So, where was I? Ah, good times. Mabel was- well, Mabel, if you get what I mean. And her brother was one hell of a nerd, always carrying around that book of his," - _Can I have this book for a couple of days?_ \- "at first I thought it was some nerdy shit, but it had info on actual supernatural that happened in or around the town. It was old - written in the eighties or shit. And it was marked as number three. You can assume there are numbers two and one somewhere around, too." - _Three of those, not two! Where is the last one? Does Mabel have both?_

"But where did he get that book?" - the girl asked timidly.

"He said he found it in the forest," - her brother shrugged. - "He spent the whole summer trying to figure out where are the other two books, who wrote them and why did he hide them? And where did he go after that? At some point we actually thought it was Old Man McGucket, but nah, life's not that simple. But Dipper didn't sit on his ass depressed, he kept searching. Come to think of it, he was leading the way most of the time, we - me, Mabes, her gals, even Ted sometimes - were more like his crew or something," - Hank's face darkened.

"And what then?" - the girl almost whispered.

"And then he died," - Hank said with sudden anger. - "A week before his and Mabel's thirteenth birthday. Quite a present, huh?"

"How did it happen?" - she asked. Guy's face twitched.

"It ain't pretty-"

"I know!" - Wendy retorted. - "It is a horrible thing. Mr Pines already told me," - she sighed.

"Then why ask me?" - he frowned, clearly irritated.

"Because yesterday Mabel said that he is still alive somehow."

"This again," - Hank waved his head defiantly.

"But don't you think that this is- um- unhealthy? She's kinda obsessed with it, it's a mania or stuff. Imagine me saying that Mom is alive-"

"Look sis," - he interrupted - "if it was anyone else, I would say they're batshit crazy, as nuts as they get. But I know Mabel too well. Maybe she's obsessed with her brother's being alive, maybe she's crazy - on that one. Outside of this, she's the best and most sane person I know, even if she tries to prove otherwise. But that doesn't change anything. Dipper's dead, however you put it. There's nothing else to talk about," - he shouted angrily, placing his plate in the sink even though it still had almost half his breakfast left on it, and leaving the kitchen.

* * *

The car dump McGucket lived in was depressing. He had a son somewhere in town, but still he preferred to live in a junk yard for some reason. He built a simple hut there and made it habitable, and in some twisted sense even cozy. Most of the space inside was taken by machinery which peculiarly looked hi-tech and ramshackle at the same time. The rest of the single room was occupied with a table laden with modest kitchen equipment, two stools and a berth. Wendy couldn't make herself feel comfortable about the place. Soos, however, was at ease.

"What's yer names again?" - the hillbilly asked, tinkering with whatever sparse tableware he owned.

"Wendy, sir, Wendy Corduroy," - the girl answered. - "And this is Soos- Jesus Ramirez. We work at the Mystery Shack, he is a handyman, and I work the cash machine."

"I don't have too many visitors in here," - McGucket admitted, coming closer and giving both preteens a cup of steamy black liquid. Wendy took the cup cautiously, sniffing its content. It was coffee, presumably, but a strange one.

"Thank you," - she tried to be polite nevertheless.

"Tasty!" - Soos exclaimed, taking a sip. - "Dude, sir, you place is crazy cool! I hope I'll live in an apartment like this when I grow up!"

"Why thank ya lil fella!" - the greybeard creaked. - "Now, dear guest, wha can I help ya with? How 'bout serum that'll make ya belch ten times as loud?"

"Do you really have this?" - Soos' eyes gleamed. _Oh, no_ \- the girl thought.

"Actually, sir," - she said hastily. - "we just want to ask you a couple of questions. If you don't mind."

"Eh, I haven't been called 'sir' for quite some time," - McGucket sighed. - "So what are yer questions 'gain?"

"Well," - Wendy started, - "when and why did you first come to Gravity Falls?"

"Early eighties, I recon," - the inventor shrugged. - "Stan Pines, my college pal, called me and said he needs help building a certain facility. So I came here an' worked together with 'im."

"And what happened next?" - Corduroy asked.

"We- um- parted ways," - McGucket rubbed the back of his neck.

"You parted ways? Why?"

"He-" - McGucket scratched his beard, he looked perplexed. - "You can say, he didn't want to do science anymore."

"But why? Did something bad happen, or, stuff?"

"The experiments," - the old man scowled a bit. - "Out experiments had zero result, we decided to shut it down, and he, kinda, was disappointed. And I got severe case of amnesia. Like thirty years of my life just weren't there. Can you imagine? Huh? How old are you again?"

"I'm twelve," - Wendy answered hesitantly.

"Nah. You won't possibly understand. Thirty years in a blur. Wife left me, son turned away from me. My head isn't what it used to be, I couldn't work in science anymore," - his bold head hang low.

"Mr McGucket," - the girl said, exchanging looks with Soos. - "We're so sorry. It must have been terrible."

"Sorta," - he sighed.

"But what kind of experiments were you performing? And where?"

"It'll take too long to explain. Many-world interpretation of quantum mechanics, special solutions of Einstein's equation, other trinkets."

"Dood, but now you hang out in the Shack again, right?" - Ramirez suddenly spoke up. - "Are you planning to do some new experiments together with Mr Pines?"

"Cackling squirrelslavery!" - the old man exclaimed all of a sudden, slapping his knee. - "I just realized that I have some urgent business, ya'd better go." - he rushed to one of his machines and started to turn the valves and switch the levers frantically.

"What?" - Wendy stammered, - "But Mr McGucket! We have some more questions!"

"Nah you need to go," - he cried at them, still fumbling with machinery controls.

"But can we at least stay and watch?" - Soos pleaded.

"No, it's dangerous," - to prove his point, the old man put on large aviator goggles. - "Now go."

* * *

Ted Strange's house was a polar opposite of McGucket's dwelling - clean, neat and well maintained, situated in a respectable part of the town and in general cozy if rather small. Petunias and pelargonium were blooming in the garden on the flowerbed surrounded by fresly trimmed grass. The doorbell rang delicately when Wendy pushed the button. In a minute Ted Strange himself opened the door.

"How can I help you?" - he asked in a most pleasant voice, smiling politely. Wendy swallowed. In a very elusive and vague way Ted Strange was just as unsettling as Old Man McGucket, although the two couldn't be more different.

"Good evening, Mr Strange, sir," - she began. Soos, who, again, accompanied her, and was now standing behind her shoulder, waved his hand slightly. - "we're here to- ugh- ask you several questions. If you don't mind, of course."

"And you are?" - Ted asked in the most polite manner.

"Oh, I'm Wendy Corduroy, Manly Dan is my father, you must know him," - the girl explained hastily. - "And Soos- Jesus Ramirez is my friend."

"And what kind of questions exactly were you going to ask?" - Mr Strange inquired.

"Um, you see, we were interested in your experience working at the Mystery Shack," - the redhead answered. Although Ted Strange's face didn't change one bit, she couldn't help but have an impression his smile became tense.

"Well, I think I don't mind the little interview at all, although, I have to admit, I'm quite surprised," - the man said - "But where are my manners? Please do come in. Can I offer you lemonade or soda?" - he asked when the kids came inside and proceeded to the hall.

"Oh, yes, please," - Corduroy said sincerely.

"Dude, sir, that's so cool!" - Soos exclaimed. The kids looked around while Ted went to the kitchen. The hall was furnished in a simple yet stylish fashion that indicated that Ted Strange was no beggar but at the same time was used to handle his expanses reservedly. In a minute he was back with two glasses of lemonade, handling those to the preteens.

"Sir, we just wanted to ask you a couple of questions, 'cause, you know- well- you see- we're making an article about the Mystery Shack for the school newspaper, yeah, that's it," - the ginger explained.

"Since-" - Soos started, but Wendy kicked his ankle real hard.

"Very well," - Ted nodded. - "I don't mind. What are the questions?"

"You were a handyman in the Shack once, right?" - the girl continued.

"Yes, I was, for four years," - he responded.

"And what did you do? What was your job?"

"I was a handyman for Mr Pines," - the man clarified. - "you know - manual work, repairs, electric grid maintenance, cleaning. I also helped Mr Pines with exhibitions sometimes, making new showcases, fetching materials, et cetera. Although, in general, he preferred to handle this kind of tasks himself."

"I see," - Wendy murmured. - "So, what can you tell us about the whole place?"

"It's one of the most famous and prosperous tourist traps on the Pacific Northwest, although it has a few serious competitors, Mystery Mountain being the most notorious of them all," - Ted said, as if reading from a pamphlet. - "Despite being a good business, the place can't boast high standards of customer services nor working ethics, employee treatment, salary levels and the like."

"What can you tell us about the owner?"

"Stanford Pines is an interesting man," - Strange answered, rubbing his chin. - "Can't exactly call him a pleasant person, not by normal definition. But he does have a lot up his sleeve and a long story behind his back. But having him as your boss isn't the best experience in my life."

"Do you know his great-niece?" - Wendy asked.

"Who, Mabel?" - Ted smiled in response. - "Her, you can call pleasant by any definition of a word. She's kind and compassionate, she has an active artistic and very creative mind and she always tries to see the best in every person she meets - and, if need be, she tries to bring said best up to the surface, striving to make everyone around her better. Naturally, she struggles a lot herself, perfects her personality. Her kindness in not only inborn, she cultivates it."

"Do you-" - the ginger hesitated for a moment, - "do you know anything about Stan and Mabel Pines' work outside managing the Mystery Shack? Some family business, maybe, or something-" - she trailed off.

"Well, Mabel is now only fifteen, and I doubt that she can actively participate in any form of business, except for being cashier in the Shack," - Ted said somewhat dryly. - "As for Stan, I have no knowledge of his activities beside the aforementioned tourist trap. As far as I know, he gives the Mystery Shack his everything, and considering his age and health state it is not as much as it used to be."

"And what do you know about Old Man McGucket's relationships with the Pines family?" - Wendy felt as if she was treading on thinnest ice. Ted Strange's frown only aggravated the feeling.

"All I know is that Fiddleford H. McGucket met Stan-" - he made the shortest, almost indistinguishable pause, - "-ford Pines in the college, and then he became his research assistant. Then Dr McGucket got mentally ill. A few years later he got better, and as far as I know, they are keeping in touch now. That is what I've heard, and I don't have a habit of sticking my nose into other people's business," - he glared at the kids with mild detest, his hint clear. Wendy twitched at the accusation. - "Your memory is remarkably good," - he added, and at first the girl couldn't comprehend what he meant by this, but then she realized that for someone who was interviewing a person for a paper, she didn't make any notes whatsoever.

"Mr Strange, we, me and Soos, we're working at the Shack now," - Wendy explained quietly. Ted's gaze slightly warmed.

"And how do you like it in here?" - he questioned.

"Dawg, sir, it's awesome," - Soos chuckled.

"Mystery Shack is a- rather weird place," - Corduroy said cautiously.

"But that's the big idea, isn't it?" - the man smiled. - "but I know what you're talking about."

"When did it start?" - Wendy wiped her forehead, suddenly sweaty. It was hot and humid.

"Not long after the Pines twins, Mabel and her brother, first came to Gravity Falls," - Ted's face was partially in the shadow.

"Did- did you know Mabel's brother?"

"Yes."

"Does this, what's happening now, have anything to do with- what happened to him?"

"Most likely."

"But what exactly?-"

"I don't know," - he said plainly. - "And, if you care to listen to a word of advise, you'd fare better not knowing this either."

"What are you going to do?" - Wendy almost whispered.

"What can I possibly do?" - he shrugged. - "Not much, I'm afraid. The officials wouldn't listen. They wouldn't have even if I knew what to tell them. Otherwise- well, to leave the town seems like the most optimal course of action." - They were silent for some time. Wendy's thoughts were racing a mile a minute, but this didn't take her anywhere. - "I guess our little interview is over, isn't it?" - Ted proposed with one of the pleasant smiles of his.

* * *

"Mr Pines, can I talk to you for a moment?" - Wendy asked when they were alone in the gift shop for a short time. Soos told her firmly that despite he wants to help her with the investigation, he respects Stan too much to ever question or doubt him. So there she was, one on one with her employer, the great conman, the rogue who could supposedly know something about his great-niece's secret affairs. And she had to try to get it out of him. She realized her palms were sweaty.

"No raise," - he said firmly. - "Come one, you've been working here for two months, even less!"

"No, no, that's not it," - the girl shook her head. - "I'm just a bit, like, curious about this place. The Shack, it is. How did you start it, and all."

"Hm, I'm pretty sure we still have a stash of booklets on the Shack itself," - Pines scratched his chin.

"But can't you tell me yourself?" - Wendy asked. - "Also, I've found this," - she fished out an old newspaper from her backpack and handed it to the man.

"What's this?" - He cocked an eyebrow.

"An issue of Gravity Falls Gossiper for September 1981," - Wendy responded, while he unfolded the aged pages. It took her quite some time to find this paper in the Gravity's Falls library's archives. Any other day, she would be proud of herself. - "It says you came to the town to do experiments, and you were actually some sort of scientist with a lot of money. Why did you turn your laboratory, or whatever, into a tourist trap?"

Stan's big meaty nose twitched.

"That Toby Determined-" - he muttered. - "Where did you get this?" - he asked.

"In Gravity Falls library," - she explained. - "So, what do you say? What were you studying here back then?"

"Local wildlife," - he said, frowning.

"Really?" - Wendy asked with suspicion. - "And old man McGucket, your former associate, says otherwise," - she added, but received nothing more than a shrug in response. - "Where did you study sciences?"

"Backupsmore college."

"And why did you quit being a scientist and decided to run a tourist trap?"

"It makes more money," - Pines replied, - "Kid, what's wrong with you? Why so much interest all of a sudden?"

"I- uh- I'm making a school newspaper."

"You?" - Stan raised his glasses and looked at her attentively - "School newspaper? In the middle of summer breaks? C'mon kiddo, spit it out. Are you gathering materials to blackmail me? Are you a sleuth? A private eye? Who sent you?"

"No, Mr Pines, it's nothing like this-"

"How about I raise your salary in exchange for you not digging any deeper?" - the conman proposed. Wendy's eyebrows climbed to the top of her forehead.

"I-"

"Well, guess again, I won't do this! And there's nothing for you to dig in the first place. So how about you just get back to work?"

"But-" - the girl made last one attempt. - "I just wanted to know your story... I mean, you made the best tourist trap in the Pacific Northwest, and stuff-" - Stan didn't take the bait.

"Go ask Mabel for stories," - he said before heading out of the gift shop, and Wendy was alone. She sighed. Stan was unsolvable. Or maybe he actually didn't know anything about Mabel's plans. She clearly had to try another approach, but she had no other ideas. Talking to Mabel openly? Trying to shadow her? Asking her friends - in particular, Pacifica, Candy and Grenda? Hardly any of this would do any good. It's safe to assume that Mabel's as evasive as her great-uncle, she won't admit anything in an open talk and she most likely would easily shake off any attempt to spy on her. Hank was clueless about her secret plans, so why wouldn't Pacifica and the others be. Wendy sighed again. There clearly was something off about Mabel, about her knowledge of the journals, about her skills. But any of this wasn't an evidence of any sinister intent, despite the fact that the ghost asked Wendy to stop Mabel. For all she knew, the ghost could be the evil one. The ghost- Corduroy blinked. The ghost was floating in the middle of the gift shop, right between her and the vending machine.

For the first time the girl thought it might be useful to call someone else, so that they would see the ghost as well. Or would they? Wouldn't it turn out to be a persistent hallucination, a wicked trick of her mind? Wendy closed her eyes and counted to ten. When she opened her eyes again, there was no ghost in the room. Only the vending machine was in front of her. Some of the buttons were glowing, being pushed down.

The girl blinked again. She took a couple of steps closer to the machine, and suddenly, in the utmost silence, it started to turn to the side, like a heavy door hanging on well-oiled hinges. The gift shop wasn't silent anymore - it was filled with the sound of Wendy's heartbeat. Slowly, hesitantly, she took a step forward, then another one. Coming close, she moved the machine further aside, opening the passage wider. There was a short dark hallway behind it. Corduroy slowly went on, further into the darkness. A door was at the end of the hallway, with a kind of display board above it. An elevator?

"Wendy!" - barked Stan's voice from behind her. She turned on her heels to see her employer standing in the hallway and watching her.

"Mr Pines, I- ugh- umm-" - she stammered. 'What would he think? He's mad. I was too careless. How can I excuse?' - "The vending machine was slightly moved, and I saw the entrance-"

"No it wasn't," - Stan retorted calmly. - "Were you spying on me?"

"No I wasn't, I swear!" - Wendy cried.

"Kid, come on, what's wrong with you? Who do you think I am? A maniac? Serial murderer? Mad scientist?"

"Mr Pines, I-" - Corduroy couldn't find words. - "But- what is this place anyway?" - Stan sighed and, turning back, made her a sign to follow him.

"A man who spent half his life on rough terms with the law knows a thing or two about how to keep his possessions and money safe, let's put it like that," - he explained once they were back in the gift shop. He put the vending machine in place, closing the passage.

"Rough terms with the law?" - Wendy repeated, puzzled.

"Gambling, frauds, occasionally smuggling goods," - he sighed. - "Never killed anyone, if that's what you're asking. No business with drugs, either, no kidnappings, no human trafficking-"

"But you were a scientist," - the girl interrupted.

"So?" - he shrugged. - "I already told you - it's difficult to make money in science. Now, kid, can you do me a favour? Stop sticking your freckled nose around, if you want to know something, just ask me, alright?"

"OK," - Wendy sighed, hanging her head low.

"Yeah, damn right it's OK," - Stan got heated up. - "I know that face, lass. I bet if you had fifty finger you would have crossed all of them behind your back!" - despite this being an accusation, the preteen actually smirked. - "Why do you even have to be this stubborn? Wendy, what are you up to?"

"I'm not up to anything!" - she protested. - "I just wanted to know what the Shack really is? Why did you come to Gravity Falls? What happened that you and McGucket stopped your experiments?" - a strange expression of nostalgia and sadness appeared on Stan's face.

"It's thirty years late for these questions," - he said melancholically. - "Wendy, can I ask you not to tell anyone about it? When you're my age, you'll likely understand it. How precious it is to have your very own secret place where you can be away from people. And now, get back to work."

"Mr Pines, but there are no tourists around."

"Wipe the dust and restock the shelves. Sweep the floor. Go on, get busy!" - he barked in a normal Stan voice, tapped her head with the knob of his cane and went out. Wendy sighed and got to work, tossing occasional glances at the vending machine, but before she got any funny ideas, Mabel joined her and helped her with the clean-up and restocking. She then spent the rest of the day at Corduroy's side, chatting with her until her shift ended. And the whole time Wendy couldn't get one thought out of her head. She remembered a horror story Hank once told her, about a serial murderer called Henry Holmes, who built a huge house that was later called 'Murder Castle' that had a whole maze of hidden rooms and passages inside, with a torture chamber in the basement that even had a pool of acid to dispose of his victims' bodies. The story scared her for good back then, and now she couldn't help but have an unsettling feeling. Why was the Shack's layout so complex and confusing? How comes Soos was founding secret and covered rooms in there on a regular basis? What else did she not know about her employer and his house? Should she even come to work tomorrow? Should she tell anyone, dad, perhaps? But what could he possibly do? It isn't illegal to have a secret room in your house, and you can't go searching through someone's place just because you suspect them of something. Or can you? Desperate times call for desperate measures. Or do they? Is this really a serious case? Or is it her overhyped imagination? The girl shook her head, feeling it spin slightly. She had to do something about it, but she didn't have a remotest idea what was the right course of action.

* * *

When she was walking back home, the girl tossed occasional glances at the sky. Heat and fug drenched her tee-shirt, and she had to wipe the sweat from her forehead every now and then. Cicadas never stopped screeching in the trees. In the cabin it was noisy and busy - their father was home, and they were having a family dinner, which was a rather rare case since he mostly hung out in the Scull Fracture until past midnight.

"Dad," - Wendy called out to him during the dinner. - "Do you remember for how long has the Mystery Shack been there?"

"Oh, for long, sweetie," - Manly Dan yelled in response, turning away from the TV where a baseball match was in progress. - "It was built around the time I was born, actually, your Grandpa was building it, Mr Pines paid him quite a lot. Although at first it wasn't a tourist trap - Mr Pines was just sitting there, not really talking to anyone in town at all. And it wasn't called Mystery Shack back then, people called it Slaughter Hut, or I don't know, something like that," - Wendy shuddered a bit. Slaughter Hut. _Murder castle_.

"But what did Mr Pines do in there back then?" - she asked.

"Heck if I know," - Manly Dan yelled, shrugging. - "Some sort of science at first, I think. Then after several years, about when I started going to school or a bit later, he turned it into a tourist trap that you're working at now."

"But why did he do it? What happened?"

"No idea," - her dad yelled. - "Why not ask him?"

"And when did his great niece start coming to visit him?" - Wendy continued her inquires, encouraged by her father's talkative mood.

"Um, three or four years ago," - he yelled, scratching his beard. - "Three, I think, in 2012. Ask your brothers, they should know. While you were spending summers at your Grandpa's, they hanged out with her here, in Gravity Falls. Especially Hank."

"And she had a brother, didn't she?" - the girl asked. Her dad grew gloomy on that remark.

"Yeah, she did," - he yelled reluctantly. - "A funny boy, constantly sticking his nose around the town - not in an annoying way, though. He died. Nasty business - from what I've got, he ran away to the forest all of a sudden, although they say he did it a lot. Then that wildfire started like a blast from the blue. They say, some natural gases at the marshes exploded, or I don't know. Lasted for almost a week, luckily the wind blew in the opposite direction, or the town would be cinders in no time. A horrible way to go."

"Yeah, dad, I remember," - Wendy said quietly. - "You told me about the fire."

"Afterwards, a lot of folks from the town volunteered to search for the body, but we found nothing. His parents came over not long after, poor fellows. Seeing them at the funeral-" - he shook his head and sighed. - "No idea what that old codger told them and the officials, like child protection services and the others, but I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw his great niece back in the town the next summer. My guess was, he would never again be allowed anywhere near children. That said, who could've known - at this age kids are unruled, and that wildfire - it was a real brick from the sky. And the old man had it hard, he had like instant plus twenty years to his age, and he was- what, already more than sixty, I guess. Not a pretty story. And why're you asking?"

"Just wondering," - she said nonchalantly.

She woke up in the middle of the night. In her dream, she fell off a cliff. Everyone has this type of dreams from time to time - dreams of falling that make you wake up with a start. But as she darted upwards on her bed, the feeling of falling didn't cease - she was floating in the air, just above her bed, together with the pillow, blanket and even the bed itself. Wendy clung to the bedsheet in dread, but the feeling of weightlessness remained, although for only a couple of seconds, and then she felt normal gravity again. Laying on the bed, gasping for air, she stared into the darkness between the pines outside her window.

"It has begun," - the girl whispered.

* * *

 **this is chapter five. I hope it was good. Review please if possible. Fereality, coronadomontes, I'm glad you like my story, I was trying. Chapter six is incoming, it wraps up the 'first season' of Anti Gravity**


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